Oneness

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JOE CAJERO

“Oneness”

Bronze
9′ tall

Recently installed at the Hotel Chaco, Albuquerque, NM

Link to Hotel Chaco’s artist web page

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When I first competed the table top size sculpture of “Oneness” in 2009, I remember saying inside my head, “God…it would be awesome if someday this piece could go big! And people could walk around it and look up at it, while contemplating the concepts it represents…” It was a small wish, a small prayer of mine I sent out to the world…

Then years later about the Fall of 2012 out of the blue this project came about.

How I met Mr. Jim Long was through a friend of his named Pam, when she came to a small open house show we had at our friend’s home, Rhett Lynch. Rhett is Navajo and is a painter. Pam had inside knowledge of Mr. Long’s vision of the Hotel Chaco project and after seeing my work, she knew we needed to meet. Introductions and arrangements were made to have dinner at Rhett’s home. There, after sharing and getting to know each other, Mr. Long feel in Love with the “Oneness” sculpture, the story of what it represents, and asked it could be create on a monumental scale. The dream was set forth and Rhett and I were invited to become consultants to the project.

We worked with Mr. Jim Long and his architectural team from the inception of this project, it was a huge honor. I was the only Pueblo person the Architectural team consulted with. We gave two presentations, I spoke about the General and Universal concepts of Pueblo Spirituality, Mr. Long felt it was very important to give as much insight to the team, form a perspective of a person who grew up experiencing Ceremonial Life in a traditional Pueblo setting. Rhett consulted with interior design, giving suggestions of different textiles. Then we gave feed back on architectural designs as the project moved forward.

Walking through the building I can now see the fingerprints of our ideas and design concepts throughout the hotel. To have influenced the design of this magnificent building and to now have it as the home of “Oneness” is a Magical Spiritual Experience for me. It Enhances Me and My Faith, that even bigger dreams can be manifested.

There was a short article written in this Saturday’s Albuquerque Journal about Hotel Chaco, click here to read.