EBB & FLOW || Kristy Cavaretta & Rachel Burgess

On view May 19 - June 19, 2022
Reception, May 22, 2-5pm

Printmakers Kristy Cavaretta and Rachel Burgess respond to the ebbs and flows of early motherhood using imagery of coastal Maine as metaphors. Elegant compositions bely unglamorous subjects– seaweed, snails, barnacles, and mushrooms– and evoke the many shifting identities and the physical load of motherhood. 

Burgess’ monotypes express her struggle to balance multiple selves– parent, spouse, artist– through the use of seaweed, which oscillates between states and is often perceived as unsightly or unpleasant. She gathers rockweed from the beach and arranges it into domestic forms in the studio, afterwards making monotypes based on her designs. The process involves painting with ink on a plexiglass plate, then using a printing press to transfer the ink to paper, creating a unique, one-off impression. Burgess has exhibited internationally and is the recipient of a 2021 Artist Development Program Award from the International Print Center of New York. She lives in New York City and maintains a studio in Kittery, Maine.

Cavaretta’s woodblock prints express her pride in being mother to three young children– embodying safety, nourishment, and security– while also conveying the overwhelming physical load of having small children constantly clinging to her. She is inspired by the ubiquitous rocks along the Maine coast and wonders, through these works, whether they share her pride in being home to precious beings, or miss the feeling of waves crashing against their surface unobscured. Carving the woodblocks is a meditative experience for Cavaretta, and the materiality of the wood often adds a surprise element to her mark-making; an unexpected reminder that letting go goes hand-in-hand with mothering. Cavaretta also works as a graphic designer and has exhibited nationally.