A century after Route 66 began carrying dreamers west, a University of New Mexico graduate is helping define how Albuquerque celebrates the historic highway today. Alumnus Noé Barnett helped shape Route 66 Remixed, an ambitious public art initiative that is the cornerstone of Albuquerque’s Route 66 Centennial celebration this year, with his creation of a mural on the UNM campus.

The citywide project reimagines Albuquerque’s stretch of the legendary highway through a collection of murals, sculptures, and cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) experiences, blending history, art, and innovation into an immersive celebration of culture. The series honors the road’s history and legacy while drawing new attention to preservation and revitalization efforts along the corridor. The purpose of the projects is to celebrate the anniversary of the historic road’s establishment and bring new awareness to efforts to preserve, maintain, restore, and return to use historic properties along the Route 66 corridor.

The UNM mural was created in collaboration with former UNM art student Travis Black.

Like the Mother Road Barnett is celebrating with this latest work, the road to his diploma at UNM was a long one. A native of Albuquerque, Barnett graduated from Volcano Vista High School before enrolling at UNM as an Architecture major.

He soon switched to Criminology, then Accounting, before stepping away from school altogether. After a brief stint as a service aide with the Albuquerque Police Department, he reassessed.

“I didn’t feel like it was necessary to get a degree in the career field that I was pursuing so I stopped going to college but then when the career field I was pursuing didn’t pan out, I decided to go back and declared Fine Arts as my major with a focus on painting and drawing.”

He graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Art Studio.

Among the faculty members who shaped his development was UNM art instructor Beau Carey, also a UNM alumnus and Albuquerque-based painter.

“Beau Carey was pivotal in my journey,” Barnett recalled. “UNM just gave me the space and the capacity to paint, just being so new and fresh to the art world and not really having the artistic skills, the knowledge, about really how to do anything. It gave me the space and the ability to really hone in on my craft and set me on the path.”

Barnett’s work is a familiar sight around town to local residents.

Among his murals are Mountain Top at the intersection of Tijeras and 1st Street in downtown Albuquerque, which honors the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and also includes images of Booker T. Washington, Coretta Scott King, and Frederick Douglass. A giant roadrunner streaks down Eighth Street downtown. A Native American artist plies his craft on the side of the Turquoise Museum on Second Street, S.W.

The city reached out to Barnett and Black about working on the UNM project.

“They explained what the project was, discussed the scope, brought up the centennial and then just paired up myself and Travis together. We never met, so there was a familiarization process of us getting to know one another. They gave us a timeline and told us that we wanted to have this done by the end of September.”

Inspiration for the project came through researching the highway’s history.

“I don’t think being from New Mexico you automatically have a sense of its importance. My parents being from the Midwest and driving on road trips over the summer familiarized me with the road. A lot of the nostalgia, even the memorabilia you see, on postcards and then all throughout the country really helped me research and understand what it was.”

Barnett noted that Route 66 is called the Mother Road, “so I used that as the anchor for the mural, which is why I decided to include my mom Michelle as the focal point and the design is centered on that and everything expands from there. It’s almost as if it’s a memory of past experiences on road trips and traveling on the road.”

Everything in the distinctive pixelated style called “voxels” was done by Black and Barnett painted everything else. The flowers in the design tie into his studio practice.

“It was an honor to be part of this and work with Noé and to work with the university and Meow Wolf and the city,” Black said. “It wasn’t quite like anything I’ve done before to kind of turn that corner every day and just see our progress and to see such a large production felt great.”

Black moved to Albuquerque in 2005 to attend UNM on an Amigo scholarship.

“I saw the quality of the professors and the affordable price and my then-girlfriend and now spouse decided to adventure out here from Michigan. I have always thought my college experience was something that helped me tremendously. I made important connections with students and teachers, and I grew a lot,” he said.

Black created the blocky Lego® or voxel images—the 3-D pixelated-looking designs, creatures, signs, and automobiles.

“Getting to know Noé and collaborating with him has been such a pleasure. Noé was so easy to work with, he knew what he wanted, but he also cared about my perspective, so I’d say it was a really rewarding and successful meeting of minds… Noé is an Olympian of his technique, well respected in the art and mural world at large and a great guy. I’m glad to be connected with him and my life is enhanced by his work and presence.”

“As students, both Noé Barnett and Travis Black exemplify the wealth of talent within the College of Fine Arts. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the inspiring history of Route 66 than with this amazing mural, which captures what makes New Mexico truly the Land of Enchantment,” said College of Fine Arts Dean Harris Smith.

UNM’s new Center for Collaborative Arts & Technology is being built on Route 66 a couple blocks east of the Mother: Moment mural. Its location along Central Avenue will, it is hoped, animate the street and showcase the talents of the UNM College of Fine Arts to the public.

In addition to being a full-time muralist for over five years, Barnett paints in his home studio. His canvases feature bold, colorful floral imagery suffused with light.

“My studio work is all influenced by light both in the metaphysical and physical sense. Flowers and vegetation use light to feed themselves through photosynthesis and in turn give us back beauty so they essentially are solar powered and they feed themselves on the light. So right now, my studio practice is a focus on light in various capacities. I use light both as the subject and a medium with reflective layers and seeing things differently through different angles and through the different forms of light.”

Barnett’s work will be on display this summer at the Albuquerque Museum in Old Town and the Secret Gallery located in the Arrive Hotel downtown.

Led by the City of Albuquerque’s Department of Arts & Culture, Route 66 Remixed invites locals and visitors alike to explore the legacy of the Mother Road through a modern creative lens. With support from Visit Albuquerque, the New Mexico Tourism Department, community organizations, and property owners, the project transforms Central Avenue into a living art corridor—an art-fueled road trip showcasing the stories, traditions, and people that continue to shape Albuquerque’s identity.

Along the route, travelers will discover large-scale installations and site-specific digital features that reflect the stories, traditions, and people that have helped shape Albuquerque. Route 66 Remixed is created in partnership with Meow Wolf, Refract Studio, and local artists. The project includes 18 art attractions along Albuquerque’s 18-mile stretch of Route 66 that can be experienced on their own or explored together via a web interface. UNM law school grad Hakim Bellamy, Albuquerque’s inaugural poet laureate, is the road trip narrator and storyteller.

A wall of color at the studio of Noé Barnett highlights the vibrant colors noted in his artwork.