Michele Ratté
“Vernal Heart” Print Series—four unique prints in 22kt gold
Rough wooden shacks nestle in the dunes of Provincetown, MA, and have given studio sanctuary to many artists over the years. I spent a few weeks in one several years ago drawing, painting, and weaving fishing line found on the beach.
The sounds of the sea are close there! The elements and the native creatures rule. For a while I was distinctly a guest. Waves pulsing against the sand, tides lifting and dropping, cranberries ripening, sea birds calling, seals bobbing just off-shore.... It was raw energy. The place invited the same essential character from me. Each sunrise and sunset opened into a fresh, dazzling palette. Soon I was part of a primal rhythm-- held in the heart of nature.
I was very lucky to be able to also study with my favorite yoga teacher while there. It became routine to hike across the dunes, return to town, and take his class. Art-making and yoga intertwined in that magical place. I felt a union of the two activities.
While there I began to draw the human heart in ink on velum, working from a radiographic image found in the Provincetown Library. That drawing soon became the basis for five larger scale monoprints on textiles, made with a unique gold-printing process I invented (and got a patent for) with a colleague.
The heart images embody the extraordinary creative integration I found in the dunes by the sea. - Michèle Ratté