BELFAST — Artist Michele Ratté has recently relocated to Belfast from Vermont and is being featured as a guest artist at Local Color Gallery. Ratté’s work is informed by a life-long fascination with marine environments (both current and ancient). She uses geological and botanical references, and the direct experience of being and working in seaside locations including the dunes of Cape Cod and the Chazy Fossil Reef Preserve in Vermont.  

Precious metals, mineral pigments, printing, collage, stitching, and drawing are all unpredictable elements in her work. Each piece evokes a primordial connection to the earth and sea. A combination of handwork, assemblage, and natural objects merge in Ratté’s personal vision of the physical world. Her blending of high karat metals with common materials reflects a strong interest in alchemical and transformative processes, according to Local Color, in a news release.

Ratté’s work has been shown widely in the U.S. and abroad, and is in the permanent collections of the Wadsworth Atheneum Art Museum (Hartford, Connecticut) and the Rhode Island School of Art Museum (Providence, Rhode Island).

The current show will be up through February at Local Color Gallery, 135 High Street, in Belfast; open Thursday-Sunday, from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.