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An Icon

2/16/2016 12:29:56 PM
by Kay Carter

Reflections on one house and three paintings

Last weekend I joined four other women for a writing retreat in Southern Maine. I took along three of my paintings as a focus for writing. Below are the results of my reflections.

Cycles and seasons loom large in my paintings and my life. For the past three years I have regularly turned in my art work to one place: an iconic, glorious, imploding house in the Town of Searsport, Maine. It sits on Rt 1, looking east to the ocean, tucked far back on the lot so a hurried traveler might pass by and never notice its slow demise.

Memories

The house suggests memories to me: stories, history, people who have come and gone. I am drawn to the snow tucked against the boarded front door, to the facade which rips away while the once grand columns tip from their plumb line. A soft glow from behind the window curtains suggests life lingering.

Signs of life door 2

"Signs of Life" invokes a new dimension in the Searsport House. Vines, dry and prickly (but perhaps living), curl around an elegant door knob which opens into a falling down shed. One is invited into a dark place. It is mysterious, bounded by the door's structure, illuminated by external light. I do not know if the vines emerge from within or without the building, but their presence and reach portend growth. The house has settled but her door knob shines. There is a connection between the past and the future, a bridge between lives lived and those yet to come. We each are but a moment in time's cycle. We are this time.

Winterberry in the door yard

'Winterberry in the door yard' carries us full circle. Even as deterioration overcomes the house, abundant colors from the earth return. The dooryard is aglow with new growth, color, a feeling of new potential emerging from Mother Earth. The door, wall, and roof, fragile now, give way to life growing before it.

From small wisps of weeds emerging from snow mounds in 'Memories', to the spartan vine twists in 'Signs of Life', and the exuberant color in 'Door Yard' we travel on a journey of life, death and re-birth which is as true and whole as the journey of the house. That which stood, that which sheltered life, that which was abandoned, that which faded and that which explodes again in new growth are all part of a universal cycle. Blessings, gifts, and mystery all.

Enjoy!