Stella

Ralph Helmick created Stella to serve as a welcoming symbol and regional icon for visitors to the U.S. Land Port of Entry in Madawaska, Maine. As the title suggests, the artwork depicts a five-pointed star elevated atop a billboard-like support structure. The sculpture is composed of three parallel planar arrays of extruded metal pipes of varying lengths that extend from the square frame toward the center of each plane. The resulting negative space creates a moiré pattern of an overlapping star shape that shifts in and out of view depending upon one’s perspective. In this way, the physically static sculpture becomes visually kinetic, as its form is revealed to the pedestrians and motorists who pass by it. As the artist states, “we don’t look at a star, we optically create it.”

Stella reinterprets the ubiquitous form of the five-pointed star. To many in Maine and New Brunswick, it represents their rich Acadian history. Seen on the Acadian flag, as well as on homes and barns on both sides of the international border, the star symbolizes “Stella Maris,” or “Star of the Sea,” and represents hope and renewal. Helmick was inspired by this symbol’s connection to local Acadian heritage, but also by its diversity of meaning across time and cultures, and its ability to transcend boundaries and borders.