The Albuquerque Museum has added my sculptural paintings, The Silent Road (17’ x 34” x 36” graphite, Tyvek™ ), Land Lines (43 x 34 x 5” graphite, birch wood) to their permanent collection along with the grouping of 4 paintings entitled, Breathless.
I am grateful to have this work at the Albuquerque Museum as I leave the city and it’s environs that had been my home for 30+ years.
It is especially gratifying to have The Silent Road and Land Lines installed in the Museum’s Lobby from December ’22 through December ’23.
The following you will read the narration plaque that is displayed with the work and see several photos by Stefan Jennings Batista of the installation. I hope some of you are able to see this work in it’s new home.
The soaring height of 17’ Silent Road I think will thrill you—let me know!
Marietta Patricia Leis
born New Jersey, lives Santa Fe, New Mexico
The Silent Road
2019
Tyvek™ , graphite ground acrylic, wood rod
gift of the artist
The Silent Road is a dialogue between painting and sculpture. It represents a road that leads in two directions, reaching upward toward the ceiling and winding down to the floor. The Silent Road was inspired by Marietta Leis’s time in Iceland during the dark months of the long winter. According to the artist, “The treeless, volcanic landscape revealed the earth’s curved horizon, confronting me with a stark image of all that is infinite—both visually and metaphorically. My acute sense of this fascinating and haunting place provided fertile ground for germination of The Silent Road.”
The Silent Road was made with graphite painted on Tyvek ™ (a paper-like plastic sheeting used to insulate houses). Leis hand burnished the graphite to achieve a luster that creates a shimmering darkness inspired by Iceland’s volcanic rock.
Leis traced every inch of the surface of the work marking a path and leaving a record of the artist’s journey for others to follow. The Silent Road’s surface texture offers hidden complexities for the viewer to grapple with and it also invites the viewer to simply travel The Road in silent contemplation.
According to Leis, “In today’s noisy world it is easy to become distracted, numb to our deepest natures. The road to authenticity is by its very nature traveled in solitude. It is an internal road that, with patience, can lead deep into the core of our being. As we each embark on the journey to this rich and fertile place, we can discover a common thread of the shared humanity that binds us.”
Marietta Patricia Leis is an internationally exhibiting multimedia artist and poet. She has lived and worked in New York City as well as Los Angeles, and is currently based in Santa Fe after living in Albuquerque for many years. Leis’ reductive, expressive works are shaped out of experiments in material process and she takes inspiration from forms found in nature, a sense of place, and the internal landscape.
Marietta Leis
born New Jersey, lives Santa Fe, New Mexico
Land Lines
2019
graphite acrylic/wood
gift of the artist
