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Take Another Look:
"Glow Time with City Brights III"
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Join us for the second episode in a three-part series focused on the 100-year celebration of Route 66 in Albuquerque, and on art/public art, history, and culture.
In this episode, host joni palmer is joined by artists Cameron Krow as well as Ashley and Jonathan LeBlanc in a discussion about the light-based art activations of Downtown's stretch of Route 66 for City Brights III.
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Cameron Krow is some amalgamation of artist, activist, builder, farmer, naturalist, and wanderer. He was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico; his upbringing in the high desert, and the relationship which he developed with the land there as a consequence, has significantly forged his spirit and identity. While his youth was spent studying philosophy at the university and traveling the continent on foot, his adulthood has been largely informed by passions for small scale agriculture, folk herbalism, natural building, land art, and photography.
Though his work is focused more on personal ritual in nature, his craft has been featured in contributions and collaborations, as well as solo works in such locations as Los Poblanos Organic Farm, ABQ Railyards, 516 Arts, Sister Bar, Lightning in a Bottle, and Harwood Art Center.
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Jonathan and Ashley LeBlanc are an artist team that live and create in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The duo work with several mediums including acrylics, upcycling, assemblage, lighting technology, and more recently metal work.
From Jonathan and Ashley: "We strive to make art that represents the southwest while exploring larger scales with public art. We invite you to experience Roadrunner 66 that will be activating Art Walk nights for the next few months. Thank you to the city of Albuquerque Arts and Culture department and everyone involved in the CITY BRIGHTS III project."
Other places to see Ashley and Jon's work include the Absolute Rubbish Trash Fashion Show at the Denver Meow Wolf on April 2nd, curated musical experiences at local pop ups, and an installation in the Elemental Series presented by Albuquerque Fashion Week, more details to be announced with the their website launch.
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Jonathan LeBlanc - @leblancnoise
Ashley LeBlanc - @ziacide
| | | Learn More About the People, Places, and Projects Discussed in Episode 28 | | |
City Brights III includes nine temporary light-based art installations envisioned by Albuquerque based artists placed in businesses and city property, activating Downtown in a unique way.
Many of the installations are interactive, featuring architectural light interventions, lighted sculptures, digital projections, and more! Viewable from the sidewalks of downtown, each installation creates a brilliant interactive experience for visitors and residents.
In honor of the Route 66 Centennial, City Brights III innovatively celebrates this storied stretch of highway through Downtown Albuquerque.
Three of the nine installations have launched with two still on view! Launched activations include "Western Skies Lantern Walk" by Robert M. Allen; "Tower of Cower II" by Alonso Indacochea, Adrian Pijoan, and Becca Elbrecht; and "If Only I were a candle in the dark: Cosm" by Cameron Krow.
Learn more about City Brights III installations, artists, locations, and activations at www.cabq.gov/artsculture/public-art/events.
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If Only I were a candle in the dark: Cosm
Artist: Cameron Krow
Location: East wall of Sister Bar patio
Cameron Krow's light-filled spherical sculpture is inspired by a poetic inquiry into what it means to hold onto and project the light in a world that often feels overwhelmed by darkness. Cosm glows from within emitting soft, diffused light and is composed of piñon and juniper branches, welded steel, LED lights, and paper mache. It appears at once as a planetary object which has crashed in from the heavens and as some kind of ore which is being pushed out from the earth’s core. The title references both ‘macrocosm’ and ‘microcosm’ to intentionally suspend distinguishing between the two, and attempts to illustrate that it is really all the same thing. There is no inner- and outer-space — there’s just space.
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What is earthly is also heavenly. What is light is also stardust. Once we remember what we really are, we begin to see ourselves in everything else and can then work to live in alignment with that truth, spreading the love that connects us to all things.
Cosm will be on view for 6 months.
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Roadrunner 66
Artists: Ashley and Jonathan LeBlanc
Location: Various locations in the downtown corridor
Roadrunner 66 is an illuminated sculpture of New Mexico’s state bird. LED lighting technology is used as a sustainable tribute to the glowing tradition of neon signs along historic Route 66. The sculpture's polygon shape draws viewers in as a striking geometric landmark by day and a glowing invitation for people to enjoy Downtown Albuquerque nightlife and culture. The art invites viewers to discuss the beauty of traveling our state, the history and symbolism of Route 66 signage, and enjoy the downtown corridor for City Brights III. The work will be shown at several locations for optimal viewing during the Artwalk and Route 66 centennial celebration.
| | Roadrunner 66 will launch during ArtWalk on April 3, 2026 from 5 to 8 pm at Curious Toast! Future activation locations TBD. | |
Caught in the Headlights
Artist: D'Ali Roberts
Location: Main Library on 5th between Copper and Tijeras
Roberts' site-specific installation transforms a salvaged vehicle into a radiant, light-driven sculpture. Using the car's frame and lighting elements, the work refracts and diffuses light into fields of neon, reflection, and shadow. When activated, the headlights and embedded LEDs ignite the piece, casting shifting patterns across its surfaces and surrounding space. Referencing Albuquerque's deep connection to the automobile and Route 66, the work layers nostalgia with contemporary light-based intervention. From a distance, it reads as a glowing beacon. Up close, it frames the body and invites movement through it, creating a moment of pause, gathering, and relative safety within the urban environment.
Caught in the Headlights will launch during ArtWalk on April 3, 2026!
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Chromesthesia
Artist: Ben Harrison
Location: Glass brick wall at 413 Central Ave NW
Ben Harrison has been creating a new body of work that explores experiencing chromesthesia, a phenomenon where sounds, such as music, trigger the perception of colors. While studying the relationship between color and sound frequencies, he developed a mathematical equation with Professor Brian Rashap at CNM, that converts sound into colors. For his City Brights installation, a downtown glass brick wall becomes an animated canvas of LED light, color and sound. Passerby activate the wall with their voice and other sounds. The wall responds in real time as soundwave signals are processed through a computer program and instantly transformed into corresponding colored lights behind the glass.
Chromesthesia is coming soon!
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The Candlelit City
Artists: Clay + Coda
Location: Walkway on 2nd Street SW between Flyby Provisions and Bloom Stone
The Candlelit City reimagines a downtown corridor into a luminous passageway - a road, a runway, and a meditative path. Inspired by Route 66's winding journey through New Mexico's rugged landscape, the installation creates a beacon of light that honors heritage and activates place. Just as neon once lit the way along Route 66, this installation creates a modern beacon that guides visitors into Albuquerque's creative core. Sculptural forms and hundreds of LED lights transform the walkway into a glowing canyon of stone and flame. At once a social space for intimate reflection, the passageway will be transformed into a runway for fashion events with local designers and other public programs.
The Candlelit City will launch during ArtWalk on April 3, 2026!
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Lonely Souls
Artists: Abby Butler and John-Mark Collins
Location: East, street level windows of Gizmo Building
Artists Abby Butler and John-Mark Collins will create a multimedia experience that explores themes of relationships and isolation. Passerby encounter Olvindi and Peyo, two lonely souls yearning for attachment. Their bodies are composed of physical materials, yet their souls are reflected through light and animated mapped projections. What is their story? What is our own? How will our concurrent journeys coincide and combine? Will we find joy? Rather than reflecting any particular identity or viewpoint, the installation focuses on the universal experience of connection. It's meant to be encountered by anyone, in whatever way feels true to them.
| | Lonely Souls will launch during ArtWalk on April 3, 2026! The animated story will play every day, 5 times per hour at the 10-minute mark, from 6 pm to 2 am. | |
Realigned - Grow Your Own Routes
Artist: Lisa Casaus
Location: West, street level windows of Gizmo Building
Lisa Casaus illuminates her illustrated characters along with impressions of the spine and twisting roads in X-Ray-style lightboxes. She envisions the spine as a perfect theme for celebrating 100 years of Route 66 because: As the central axis to the body, the spine embodies a "Mother Road" or the "main street of America," as highway for information and energy exchange. There are 33 vertebrae in a normal human spine, which, in addition to being half of 66, is the same number of counties in New Mexico. Sections of the route are called 'alignments' and require maintenance the same way our bodies do. The individual pieces of the spine and pelvis mimic the chevron road sign amazingly well. Realigned - Grow Your Own Routes explores both the historical significance of Route 66 and the impacts of spinal health on overall wellness. Thinking ahead to growing more roots, many of the materials used for this piece (including dye made from root vegetables!), are recycled, recyclable or compostable. A good portion of the installation will be dismantled after exhibition and used to line flower beds or make compostable pots.
Realigned - Grow Your Own Routes will launch during ArtWalk on April 3, 2026!
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Tower of Cower II
Artists: Alonso Indacochea, Adrian Pijoan, and Becca Elbrecht
Location: Lobby of Studio 519
Tower of Cower II takes the form of a multi-level screen sculptures constructed from vintage CRT and LED televisions, some functioning and others gutted and fitted with mirrors that scatter light outward. The screens cycle between short silent films on migration and surveillance, plus live footage of visitors captured in real time. The tower becomes both watcher and witness, projecting stories of border crossings while reflecting the gaze of its audience back onto itself.
Tower of Cower II launched in December 2025 and will be on view through April 6, 2026!
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Western Skies Lantern Walk
Artist: Robert M. Allen
Robert M. Allen led a community project series offering lantern making workshops. The workshop also included a presentation on the history of lighted paper lanterns and lantern celebrations from around the world. Workshop participants, along with family, friends and the public were invited to walk with their lantern creations in a procession down Central Avenue during the December 2025 ArtWalk. The Lantern Walk celebrates the night sky, and artworks include depictions of stars, galaxies, planets, comets, moons, satellites, along with nocturnal animals and other creatures. The title of the procession references the historic Route 66 roadside hotel, Western Skies, which was once considered one of Albuquerque's most glamorous hotels, welcoming many travelers along the historic highway. The project also reminds all who visit to look up and take in New Mexico's wondrous immense skies and wide-open horizons.
| | City Brights II Installations Still On View | | | |
Paige
Artist: David Santiago
Location: Main Library
Viewable day and night in the Main Library's front window is Paige. Paige celebrates her love of reading, glowing with the magic books bring to life. During the day, she offers a quiet place to rest and read in a tucked away corner of the library's second floor. David Santiago combines form and function in this large lighted sculpture that also serves as a comfortable bench to relax amid the bustle of downtown Albuquerque.
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Interefraction
Artist: Dason Culver
Location: OT Circus
Large transparent colored hands attached to the side of the long wall on the side of OT Circus create colorful reflections during the day. LEDs mounted in the base of each hand create a gentle glow at night. Passersby will delight in the shadow play and wonder of these large lighted sculptures. The artist statement describes “A strong value of community is to reach out for help and to lend a hand to others, and the goal of this installation is to create dialogue on what community means, and how we can all lend our hands to build a resilient one.”
| | | Learn More about City Brights! | | |
- Hear from the 11 City Brights II artists here!
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