Foreclosure Quilt : Albuquerque, New Mexico

II hope everyone is having a nice holiday break this week! One of the things I think we are losing is the ability to relax and take a few days off every now and then. I managed to squeeze in one more foreclosure quilt before taking this week off and wrapping up a phenomenal year. There has been a sudden jump in foreclosures in the Southwest so my next few pieces will be focused on this region. This piece is of a newer neighborhood in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Albuquerque Foreclosure Quilt, 2011. 35" x 47"

This is one of my larger pieces at 35" x 47". I chose to zoom out of the neighborhood a bit  so you could see the large scale of foreclosures. You can find neighborhoods that look like this in pretty much any town in the United States these days. Clearly something is wrong but not much is being done about it.

Albuquerque Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2011. 35" x 47"

Most of the newer developments of Alburquerque are comprised of large scale arterial roads set up in a grid with smaller neighborhood streets curving around within them. Not the most pedestrian friendly way to live with those busy roads everywhere. The blue areas are either civic (schools, libraries, etc.) or unbuilt right of way (culverts, creeks, etc).

Albuquerque Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2011. 35" x 47"

All of the materials I used on this piece were scraps I had lying around in the studio. My next piece, Phoenix, is well under way and should be finished early next month. You might have seen a sneak peek in a recent post. I feel a sudden burst to make more quilts after reading all the news lately around the mortgage crisis.

Thank you Lari for pointing out this recent 60 Minutes segment on Cleveland, Ohio. One of my recent pieces was on Cleveland. Jim Rokakis has spearheaded so many projects there, he's an unsung hero in my book.