During last year's holiday season, almost 100,000 people made their way after dark through fifty acres of the ABQ BioPark,viewing more than 500 hand-made, custom-made light sculptures. The River of Lights, a fundraiser for the BioPark Society and open to the public through January 2, is put together by a small crew of the Botanic Garden's employees, led by Joey Trujillo.
Trujillo was originally hired by the BioPark Society as a gardener, but he has gone on to become the River of Light's chief fabricator and welder. Trujillo has designed several new sculptures for this year's display, including a barrel of monkeys, eight animated dragonflies and a hot air balloon.
In this longer version of the conversation, Joey Trujillo describes in greater detail how he and his crew create the sculptures by draping rope lights over welded metal.