Gerald Stone: Artist

Gerald Stone: worlds out of time

landscapes within landscapes, tribes, spirits, watchers, seekers, red-haired women, murdered and missing, space stretched and bent, stories vibrating across time.

Sad-Eyed Sisters of the Old Lands, 2020 Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento describes Gerald Stone as a “beloved local master artist.” Gerald himself just brushes off the accolades and calls his work “weird.” His stylized art, which he describes as a conversation between himself and his Creator, bridges traditional and contemporary styles and themes.

Born in the far reaches Hope of rural Oklahoma, Stone was a kid who liked to draw and has lived a life of peaks and valleys, always around the midline of art. Just before he was scheduled to join the Army, headed most likely to Vietnam, he was accepted for a two-year program at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, a city often considered the center of the Native art world.

Eventually, he earned a BFA from the University of Oklahoma, and spent years juggling art and construction work to support his family, entering juried competitions and selling his work through galleries. While planning a solo exhibition, he was involved in a serious car accident which derailed his interest in creating art for more than a decade.

In 2009, he finally held his long-planned solo exhibition, which sold out, and he now shows in several galleries and works from his home in Sacramento.

Professor Nicolas G. Rosenthal in his article for the Crocker Art Museum wrote, “Themes of multiple worlds, prophecies and ignored warnings, Native cosmology, and the fluidity of time and place run throughout Stone’s recent work, immersing the viewer in compositions that are both poignantly relevant and slyly whimsical.”

A Song Remembering

Through the hands of time, the sands of time Red Dresses of MMIW #1

Three years ago, while still in Mexico, I came across Gerald’s work on Facebook and became an instant fan. Thank you, for sharing with us, Gerald ... a modest contribution to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA (MMIWusa.org) is being made in your honor. And, for the next three months, Crocker Art Museum will be designated as my Amazon Smile recipient.