Los
Angeles
artist
Lita
Albuquerque
is
the
designer
of
the
Gateway
Pool
and
Water
Wall
near
the
Shepherd's
Gate
entrance
to
the
Plaza
of
the
Cathedral
of
Our
Lady
of
the
Angels.
Her
art
symbolizes
the
Scripture
passage
of
Jesus
meeting
the
Samaritan
woman
at
the
well
and
promising
her
that
"I
am
the
living
water,"
that
He
would
wash
away
her
sins.
Albuquerque
was
born
in
Tunisia
with
a
French-Spanish
background
and
from
the
age
of
eleven
lived
in
Europe
with
her
family,
later
settling
in
the
United
States.
She
was
raised
in
the
1950s
in
a
Catholic
convent
in
Carthage,
North
Africa,
and
recalls
a
grotto
with
a
statue
of
the
Virgin
Mary
which
reminded
her
years
later
of
Our
Lady
of
the
Angels.
The
inspiration
for
her
creations
at
the
Cathedral
entrance
began
with
these
Catholic
childhood
memories.
The
artist
began
as
a
painter,
but
in
the
mid-1970s
she
created
"terrestrial
paintings,"
which
were
pure
ephemeral,
powdered
pigment
works
in
the
desert
wilderness.
All
related
to
the
earth
and
to
the
cosmos.
As
a
teacher
for
seventeen
years
with
a
degree
in
Art
History,
she
believes
in
teaching
her
graduate
classes
from
the
entirety
of
her
life,
recalling
her
home
in
North
Africa
facing
the
sun
rising
in
the
east,
setting
in
the
west,
and
living
in
Malibu,
California
at
an
art
community,
again
facing
due
south.
All
these
vistas
have
allowed
her
to
be
close
to
nature
and
to
the
light
of
the
"creator"
sun.
She
continues
to
live
with
her
family
in
a
rural
Malibu
canyon
and
works
in
her
studio
in
the
18th
Street
Complex.
Albuquerque
is
a
known
artist
listed
in
the
National
Registry
with
works
and
commissions
collected
and
featured
by
prominent
institutions
and
museums
in
the
United
States,
such
as
the
Smithsonian,
Getty
Trust,
Los
Angeles
County
Museum
of
Art,
Whitney
Museum
of
Art,
Los
Angeles
Museum
of
Contemporary
Art
,
as
well
as
others
in
Japan,
Korea
and
Switzerland.
Besides
the
Cathedral's
Gateway
Pool,
her
recent
work
includes
an
outdoor
exhibit
referencing
the
history
of
California
for
the
public
promenade
at
the
State
Capitol
Building
in
Sacramento.
As
a
result
of
her
international,
personal
and
educational
history,
there
are
both
Eastern
and
Western
cultural
influences
in
her
work,
which
give
her
art
an
exotic,
as
well
as,
futuristic
quality.
Her
use
of
symbols
are
both
traditional
and
modern,
and
her
compositions
emerge
out
of
both
a
Western
contemporary
aesthetic
and
ancient
sources.
Ms.
Albuquerque
considers
the
spiritual
side
of
her
work
as
the
connection
between
human
life
on
earth
and
within
the
cosmos.
She
hopes
that
children
at
the
Gateway
Pool
will
"have
fun
with
it
and
hop
scotch
on
it
and
be
filled
with
wonder."
Learn
more
about
the
FOUNTAINS.
