In 2024 New Jersey artist and teacher, Chris Carter, returned home to a nightmare. A devastating flood to her basement studio had destroyed a lifetime of her work. During the heartbreaking cleanup she filled a twenty yard dumpster with ruined art, art books, teaching materials, reams of watercolor paper, mat board, sketches, portfolios, “all turned to mush” she says. “My world turned black and my creative flow froze,” she remembers. “My heart had hardened….. and I wasn’t sure if I would ever see glimmers of light again.”
But Carter, a gifted teacher who has maintained a daily drawing practice for her whole career and claims insatiable curiosity as the driving force behind her work, found a resilience within. As she ripped soggy carpet off the floor she found herself staring at the wooden stripping with little metal shards that held the multicolored foam padding in place and she realized the shapes and materials, however disgusting, were actually sparking her creative interest. “A smile crossed my weary face and my inner artist whispered,” she says. “In that moment I became aware of how resilient I am…how my creative spirit, my curiosity, my seeking of beauty in the world can be broken but not destroyed.”
In time she felt emotionally strong enough to start looking at a series of paintings which had survived the flood on a high studio shelf. These works were based on reflections on an afternoon she spent in a park (Parc Andre Citroen) in Paris and which she refers to as her PAC series. She says that after the flood she saw these works through very different eyes and began reworking most of them. “I’m still working on the series and it becomes more exciting each day” she says. “As tragic as the flood was, I’ve grown exponentially as an artist because of it and I am grateful.
In RESILIENCE AND RENEWAL visitors to the Gallery will be able to see many of the reworked PAC paintings that survived the flood as well as drawings and mixed media pieces from her daily drawing practice. Showing alongside Chris's work will be the work of the seven MSG member artists as well as the paintings of pop-up guest artist, and former MSG member, Deborah Colborn.
Although from New Jersey, Chris Carter is no stranger to Cambridge. Over the years she has shown her work at the Dorchester Center for the Arts and at the Main Street Gallery. She has also taught several workshops at both venues, inspiring many students, some of whom she now counts as friends. “Creating art, on any level, can be a healing, meditative experience. Through art, I’ve survived many difficult periods of life…..It is my hope that by sharing my personal experience of art as a daily practice my story and my work will inspire others to take pen or brush in hand.”
RESILIENCE AND RENEWAL will open at the Gallery at 518 Poplar St. in Cambridge on March 6 and run through April 26. There will be two artist's receptions on Second Saturdays, March 14 and April 11.The receptions are free and all are invited. Light refreshments will be served. The Gallery will be open Friday-Sunday from 11-4 until daylight savings time begins on March 8, when hours will be from 11-5. Online shopping is always available at mainstgallery.net. The Gallery, located in Cambridge’s thriving arts and entertainment district, is the city’s only artist owned and operated cooperative and is celebrating its 15th year downtown. The Gallery is currently reviewing work by prospective members and guest artists. Please contact MSG through its website or by calling 410-330-4659 if you are interested in being part of this vibrant artist community.
