Albuquerque Reliques: Downtown hawk sculpture symbolizing the west

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — Across from the Rail Runner station in downtown Albuquerque, there's a 24-foot-tall sculpture made entirely of car doors. The piece, called 'Auto Hawk,' is meant to represent the West and its freedom.
Christopher Fennell is a sculptor who moved from Georgia to Albuquerque after graduating from college. He says Auto Hawk was partly inspired by the ravens he saw while hiking the Sandia – specifically, the 'rough-looking' ones missing feathers. He says he decided to use car doors for the sculpture, given that it's located outside of a parking deck. 'And so I thought, okay, parking deck materials, cars,' said Fennell. 'And then I started thinking about how car doors open and how they're kind of like a wing and how if you did a bunch of them, they would look like feathers.'
Auto Hawk came to be when the city put out a call for artists. Fennell submitted his portfolio, and from there, he was invited to walk the site with city officials and talk with nearby community members. Then, it was time to brainstorm. For Auto Hawk, Fennell drafted up drawings to present to the city council. After his concept was selected, he signed the contract and started building. The piece is meant to encompass the idea of Western freedom, particularly the free-spirited people of Albuquerque, and how 'we all got to stick together.'
Albuquerque Reliques is a web series taking a look at landmarks, art, and oddities in the area.
Pt I. –
Pt. II – Story behind the 'Transformers' sculptures downtown
Pt. III – A mural at Civic Plaza representing resiliency
Pt. IV –
Fennel's experience with sculptures began decades ago. 'In 2000, I was getting a master's in sculpture at the University of Georgia, and I saw a barn falling down that looked like a wave to me,' said Fennell. 'And so I took the barn down and built a wave in front of the art department, and people liked it. And then I took 120 bicycles and made a tornado of bicycles. And that sort of set me on my path of building big things out of recycled material.' He added that he enjoys working around 24-feet because it's 'big enough that you feel the presence of God, but small enough that it's intimate.' One way Fennell garners inspiration is through nature, specifically caving. He jokes that 'my pieces of artwork are just me going out.'
As for how these massive sculptures stay together, Fennell has a background in mechanical engineering. He says that's partly how he's learned to build big things that stand up and stay up. One struggle Fennell has run into is finding scrap yards that are willing to work with artists. 'It's weird. Salvage yards don't like artists because they're just weirdos that are going to, you know, go look for one little thing that's interesting, and there's no money to be made,' said Fennell. 'So most places, like most junk dealers, will not deal with artists.'
Fennell is now living in Birmingham, Alabama, where he has an art studio in the ruins of Republic Steel – an abandoned steel mill that has become a haven for artists. Although he's a few states away, he's still doing work in New Mexico. Currently, he's working on a fire station in Las Cruces. 'It is two pillars, 17 feet tall, with fire hydrants on top. And then between the two pillars is a 14-foot-tall ball of fire made of decommissioned fire ladders,' said Fennell. 'I did one like this in Allen, Texas, north of Dallas. But this one I made spiky, because everything in the desert is kind of spiky.'
You can view Fennell's work on his website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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