Statues of Zozobra, Pueblo runners installed at Santa Fe convention center

Aug. 8—The 100th anniversary burning of Will Shuster's Zozobra isn't until the end of the month, but Santa Feans champing at the bit to shake their fists at Old Man Gloom can get a jump start at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

A 20-foot-tall statue of Zozobra by local artist Don Kennell was installed this week near the convention center's loading dock on Grant Street. It joins several other sculptures by Kennell and his team of artists, including the Barn Dog sculpture at the corner of Grant Avenue and South Federal Place.

A dedication ceremony for the statue will be held at the site at 5:30 p.m. Friday. It is the latest in a series of Zozobra centennial tributes popping up around town in preparation for the Aug. 30 burning.

The new statue's installation Tuesday came as crews also installed a piece by Pojoaque Pueblo sculptor George Rivera inside the convention center. Rivera's statue of Catua and Omtua, two runners who played a key role in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt, has never before been on public display.

The statue, a gift to the city of Santa Fe in 2018 from Tesuque Pueblo that has remained in storage amid controversy surrounding public art and monuments, will be uncovered Saturday, city spokeswoman Regina Ruiz said.

"It was an honor to do this piece," said Rivera, a former governor of Pojaque Pueblo.

The display of the Pueblo runners follows the installation last week of a statue of Don Diego de Vargas outside the lobby of the New Mexico History Museum. That artwork was removed from Cathedral Park in June 2020 as protests over monuments to controversial figures in history emerged in Santa Fe, throughout New Mexico and across the nation.

Mayor Alan Webber announced in May a plan to display the Pueblo runners statue and the de Vargas statue at separate sites this summer.

The history museum will serve as a temporary home for the de Vargas statue until a permanent location is determined.

The Pueblo runners statue was initially planned to be displayed outside the convention center, but Rivera said he thinks the interior installation is better.

"When you take a life-sized piece and put it inside, it feels a little bit more intimate," he said. "Outside, a life-sized piece ends up looking kind of small."

He said he leaned on his own history as a marathon runner for the physicality of the statue, which depicts Catua and Omtua running so fast their feet have left the ground.

"That was really important for me to capture, the essence of high-speed intensity in their bodies," Rivera said.

He said he hopes the statue will help both locals and visitors to the city learn more about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, when most of the indigenous Pueblo people rose up against the Spanish colonizers in the Mexican province that included Santa Fe.

"That's a big part of our history," Rivera said.

The Zozobra statue was approved by the Santa Fe Arts Commission in April using money from the commission and unanticipated lodgers tax revenue.

Made of welded steel covered with automotive paint, the statue took three months to create and is the work of Kennell, his business partner and project manager Lisa Adler and his team of artists: Zach Greer, Caleb Smith and York Moon.

Kennell, who has lived in Santa Fe for 23 years, said he loves Zozobra and was honored to be asked to create a piece of art representing such a beloved city tradition.

"To be honest, I was a little intimidated by the project," Kennell said. "I didn't want to mess it up."

The statue will later include an augmented reality component created by Refract Studios in which viewers can scan a QR code to see a figure of Zozobra creator Will Shuster.

Viewers will see flames projected onto the statue to make it appear as if it's on fire, Kennell said, adding another feature of the the statue is its moveable arms.

"Zozobra's a big marionette, and we felt like it was important to have these little elements," he said.

Kennell said the statue was an opportunity to honor Shuster's legacy, saying he felt "like I've been in his head a little bit" by spending so much time working on the sculpture.

"It's such a special thing for a city to have something like this that's so unique," he said. "I'm just humbled by Will Shuster and the Kiwanis Club for for getting to 100 years."

Ray Sandoval, the Zozobra event chairman for the Kiwanis Club of Santa Fe, which presents the burning each year, said he's excited to have a permanent statue of Zozobra to complement the ephemeral figure.

"Sometimes I feel sad when he have to burn him because I get attached; it's like a stuffed animal," he said.

Sandoval said the public dedication Friday will include music, stickers for kids and remarks by city officials and representatives of the Kiwanis Club.

Sandoval said the tributes to Zozobra as the 100th burning draws near have been emotional events.

"To see all these special projects come together ... it's very, very moving," he said.