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Glenna Goodacre’s “Park Place” is one of dozens of sculptures at the Albuquerque Museum. (Courtesy of Albuquerque Museum)

The Albuquerque Museum is full of treasures that make up New Mexico history.

While most of these treasures are within the walls of the museum, there are plenty of works to be seen on the grounds.

According to Josie Lopez, museum curator, the museum’s permanent collection includes more than 10,000 works of art.

The museum changes its exhibitions through seven galleries.

Yet it’s the sculpture garden that visitors can get to – even during the pandemic.

Lopez says that the artworks are made by a diverse group of artists.

In a recent video for the museum, Lopez takes viewers on a virtual tour of the sculpture garden. The video can be watched at cabq.gov/culturalservices/albuquerque-museum.

The most prevalent conversation happening in the portion of the east sculpture garden, facing Mountain Road, is the exploration of scale.

The large works range in materials and subjects, but each artist had to contend with the specific challenges of creating and installing such massive works.

“The Basque Sheepherder” is a bronze figure that honors a specific way of life, while famed Mexican artist, Sebastian, reflects on color, line and geometric form in his exploration of Pueblo architecture.

“The elegant lines of Ali Badoin’s ‘Skater’ in the Wind demonstrate how he grappled with creating a sense of movement out of static materials,” Lopez says.

Glenna Goodacre’s “Park Place” and Oliver LaGrone’s “Mercy,” Michael Orgel’s “Nurturance,” and Allan Houser’s “Prayer” all reside in the east sculpture garden. “This group of works features both the figure and organic forms to reflect on the importance of place, on the need people have to come together, on caring for family and each other, and on the cycles of life,” Lopez says. “Further along the path, works like Tom Waldron’s ‘Blue Tank’ and Jesús Moroles’s ‘Floating Mesa’ make strong statements about the landscape of New Mexico and the diverse environments that make up our region. Water is a life source and is at the forefront of the dialogue raised by these works.”