Beholding What We Overlook with Artist & Poet Marietta Patricia Leis
What joy in dewdrops and soaked earth
when I can be a companion instead of hiding
within
--Marietta Patricia Leis
from “Awakened,” Pausing, page 11
The art and poetry of Marietta Patricia Leis invites us to look with care so that we might behold that which we often overlook—even though these fill our lives as inhabitants of Earth. With Marietta’s visual art and poetry, the observer and reader can notice and ponder such ordinary wonders as the:
range of hues in one color;
space imposed upon by objects;
space connecting us to art, objects and each other;
non-reflectiveness of black;
translucent blues of ice;
layers of texture in trees;
forms that vapors take;
motion of breath in the air;
curve of the Earth just ahead…
Marietta does this by creating artworks that evoke Earth meditations that help us to savor what is around us, or more accurately, what is with us. As she writes in her poem, “Good Night”:
Heaven is glimpsed from
my studio window
tucking in for the night
resting for tomorrow
--Marietta Patricia Leis
from “Good Night,” Pausing, page 35
Outer and Inner Vision
Choosing to behold by seeing with both outer and inner vision is the lyrical refrain in Marietta’s visual and verbal art. As she writes in her poems and “Fog” and “Foggy”:
The fog rolls in
over the Lake
shrouding my eyes
Reflections echoing truth
in their subtle
refrain
--Marietta Patricia Leis
from “Fog,” Pausing, page 15
It is possible to see
through the
murkiness
Deciding clarity
is worth
the risk of knowing
But growing up
is not
easy
--Marietta Patricia Leis
from “Foggy,” Pausing, page 29
Vapors 11 by Marietta Patricia Leis
parafin wax/flax/gold leaf
4.5 in. x 5.25 in. x 4.25 in.
Photo courtesy
https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/sculpture/
Seeing the Earth from Different Locations
Travel informs her close attention to our Earth as it hangs in the balance of the cosmos…and of human treatment.
Some of her travels and resulting creations include:
Iceland—the expanse of treeless land that allows viewing of the curve of our globe inspired Marietta’s Land Lines, the Reveal series, and the Eclipse series, among many other of her creations. The Northern Lights sparked Marietta’s Ascensions 6.
Land Lines by Marietta Patricia Leis
graphite acrylic/wood 43 in. x 34 in. x 5 in.
Photo courtesy: https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/ice/
Above: Reveal 6 by Marietta Patricia Leis
oil, wood, lucite, 13 in. in diameter, 5.5 in. in depth (front & side view)
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/shades/
Eclipse 12 by Marietta Patricia Leis
Flashe, copper leaf, panel
6 in. diameter, 3 in. depth
Photo courtesy
https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/shades/
Above: Ascensions 6 by Marietta Patricia Leis
oil/board 20 in. circle
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/shades/
Antarctica—the fragility and subtle hues of its glacier-scape are revealed before us in Marietta’s Disturbances in the Field, showing the variations of blue within the ice as well as the melting shapes.
Above: Disturbances in the Field (detail) by Marietta Patricia Leis
styrofoam/cardstock/oil/MDF
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/ice/
The Secrets of Trees
It is my belief that as Earth’s protectors, trees hold secrets. Marietta’s art that highlights the layers and textures of tree trunks serves to guide us into the gorgeous lines and shapes of tree trunks. Even if we cannot hear the secrets they hold, in Marietta’s art, we can see their impressions. In the midst of this art, I feel as if I am among the thinkers of the planet and their cerebra celebration. Looking deeply, my eyes reach out and touch each fold of knowledge held in the texture of trees.
Above: Traces 4 by Marietta Patricia Leis
oil on Spruce wood, 17 in. x 14 in. x 16 in.
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/featured-work/
Fissures 1 & 2 by Marietta Patricia Leis
ink relief prints on paper
35 in. x 34 in.
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/greens/
Phoenix Rising 1 & 2 by Marietta Patricia Leis
Mimosa wood, copper leaf, Flashe,
approx. 13 in. x 10 in. x 7 in. each
Photo coutesy
https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/sculpture/
Meditative Moments on the Motion of Words and Breath in the Air
We know wind, breezes, and something of breath. But what do we really know about the movement of air as we speak and breathe? How can we see this invisible phenomenon?
Marietta magnificently answers this in the Breath series, making the motion of air visible with archival ink prints on Habotai silk—these artworks move with the air that connects us as the viewer approaches, breathes and speaks.
Above: Breath 1 by Marietta Patricia Leis
archival ink print on Habotai silk, 30 in. by 41 in.
Photo courtesy https://www.mariettaleis.com/portfolio/air/
The Space that Holds Us All
Her creative talent includes captivating arrangement of her artworks for exhibition, with placement that gives us pause and time to ponder not only the artworks but also the space that holds them—and the space that connects us all.
Nationally and Internationally Renowned Art
Shown internationally, nationally and locally, Marietta’s exhibitions include the Mark Rothko Centre in Latvia, the Venice Biennale 2019, the Harwood Museum in Taos, and in Alcoves 20/20 No. 2 at the New Mexico Museum of Art.
Dedicated Moments for Pausing and Noticing
Whenever I need to take a break from life’s busy-ness, I dedicate some mindful and heart-filled moments to pause and notice what fills life—such air, breath, space, color, texture and shape—I visit Marietta’s website and I read the short punctuated verses of Marietta’s book of poetry, Pausing: Reflections in Poems and Art, Ermelinda Press, 2016 (available on Amazon).
Marietta’s website and books are lovely places where you, too, can view her art and sit with some of her poetry and other writings.
Here I am, in my hammock, pausing from life’s busy-ness with Pausing: Reflections in Poem and Art by Marietta Patricia Leis.
Marietta wrote the poetry of Pausing while she was Artist in Residence at the Morris Graves Foundation, The Lake, in Northern California.
Here I am at home, pausing from life’s busy-ness to ponder the wonders on the website of artist and poet Marietta Patricia Leis.
You can also see Marietta’s art and her studio and talk with her at Creatives in Conversation on Wednesday, August 4, 5:30 pm MT! Free event via Zoom!
Please join us for this enlightening hour and for a visit with Marietta in her studio!
Artist Marietta Patricia Leis creating in her studio.
Photo courtesy Marietta Patricia Leis.
About Marietta Patricia Leis
Marietta Patricia Leis is an internationally exhibiting interdisciplinary artist and poet. Her reductive, expressive visual practice is shaped by experiments in mediums and takes inspiration from the forms of nature, sense of place, and the internal landscape.
Leis’s art has been influenced by her insatiable curiosity and a broad repertoire of interests, including extensive travel. Inspired by water, sky, forests, food, and air—the intangibles, the vulnerable, the beautiful—her work is constantly evolving, increasingly diverse, and progressively reductive as she pares down her issues to their essence.
Her background as a second-generation Italian American enriched her life and inspired her to pursue the arts as she was surrounded by original art and creativity in both her maternal home and that of her grandparents. Her childhood studies in acting and dance led to professional work in her early teens and beyond, but she chose instead to focus on her visual art.
Her extensive resume includes the 17 artist residencies she has been awarded, numerous solo and group exhibitions where she has shown her work as well as the collections where her work is included. Leis has an BA/MA in psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles and an MA/MFA in studio art from the University of New Mexico. She has previously taught art academically and currently lectures and conducts master classes as well as poetry readings. Originally from New Jersey, she is currently based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“Pausing: reflections in poetry and art” was published in 2016 and “Engrained: reflections of trees and forests in poetry and art” that will be published later this year. She is frequently a guest presenter at poetry events and her poems appear in chapbooks, anthologies and as text plates in her art exhibits.
(Bio provided by Marietta Patricia Leis)
About Blog Author
Mary Dezember, PhD, is a poet, an author of fiction and non-fiction, and a lover of visual, verbal and musical art.
Mary earned her PhD in Comparative Literature, specialization in Comparative Arts, from Indiana University in 2000, with PhD minors in Art History and Performance Studies.
Professor Emeritus of English, she taught Comparative Arts, Art History, Creative Writing and Literature at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology from August 2000 to May 2021. Her publications include several non-fiction essays and articles and two books of poetry: Earth-Marked Like You (Sunstone Press) and Still Howling (CreateSpace Independent Publishing). Her novel, Wild Conviction, is in the works to be published by Inkshares.
Blog author Mary Dezember seen here taking a moment to reflect on life’s wonders with Pausing by Marietta Patricia Leis.