Maryellen Sakura

MARYELLEN SAKURA:

Thoughts on Rocks & Stones

Looking for a thread in my work which spans almost sixty years, I find the presence of rocks and stones.  When I first began a practice of artmaking, landscapes and nature dominated my interest.
Jagged cliffs by the sea and drumlins near and far were often repeated.
When place was no longer specific, the forms of rock and stones remained.

Rocks and stones might appear stable and firmly grounded to the earth.
Yet, they keep one off balance wandering in the unpredictable.
Their arcs and angles, fused and etched, teeter and persist.

Ten years ago, I visited Isamu Noguchi”s Museum of Stones in Astoria, Queens, NYC.
This markable sculptor devoted his work to an examination of rocks, as the raw material,
the bones of the earth, and stones, the product of his alteration and manipulation. Noguchi believed
that feeling connected to the earth is the key to divining and fixing our place in the universe.
Though my work is devoted to painting and printmaking, I find an affinity
to “his desire to draw attention to stones as objects that are worthy of special attention.”
Unlike a stone wall or David’s stones used against Goliath, my stones are not useful.
They are flat forms in improbable arrangements.  They sometimes mimic reality;
they are sometimes playful and purely decorative.

“Everything changes, even stone.  Claude Monet
“ As soon as I stopped thinking about myself…I could create again,
My best work is not about me…it is about empathy.”  Sting