Apr 18, 2011

The South Valley Health Commons received the new art piece for its collection in April, thanks to the Art in Public Places Program of Bernalillo County and New Mexico Arts, a division of the New Mexico  Department of Cultural Affairs.
The piece  was created in 2010 by Stephanie Lerma, who has been a papermaker for almost twenty years. The three-dimensional piece, titled "She Only Left a Whisper" is a collection of flower petals made of paper, dipped in bees wax, with faintly water-color painted tips.  It is encased in an acrylic display box, and hangs in the children’s nook of the South Valley Health Commons waiting area.
At the art installation, Lerma said the piece was inspired by the memory of a child, and that it was appropriate to hang it in the children’s nook.
“I’m thrilled so many people will be able to view it,” she said.
Lerma’s creative method tends to be labor intensive, with thousands of individual, hand-pulled pieces assembled into each work of art.  Her work has been exhibited in galleries, universities, and museums throughout the United States, Japanand Korea.  Last year, she participated in the autumn installment of the Albuquerque NOW Exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum, received an Honorable Mention for work in Judy Chicago’s 2010 Subversive Stitching Exhibition, and was awarded state purchases through the  2010 New Mexico Art in Public Places Acclaimed Artist Series.
South Valley Health Commons has two other pieces hanging in the lobby that belong to the Public Art collection.  The South Valley is eligible to receive the pieces on loan because of the state's large investment in the building.