‘Cross-Pollination’ and The Flower Exchange at the George Marshall Store Gallery

“Cross-pollination” celebrates the overlap between gardening and art-making as conduits for creativity, community, sustenance and healing. The show brings together eight artists whose practices are inspired by, incorporate materials from, or run parallel to work in the garden: Dina Andretta, Sasha Azbel, Clementine Cavanagh, Kristen Kieffer, Nicole Kiernan, Sarah Steedman, Cathy Rees and Robin Reynolds.

The show opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. July 19 and remains on view through Aug. 17.

The Flower Exchange is a celebration of the home garden and an invitation to participate in the show through sharing and exchanging flowers. Co-organized with Elizabeth Brown of Foxglove Farmhouse, this initiative is inspired by a reimagining of traditional “art in bloom” events, and a desire to foster joy, connection and creativity in our community. Visitors can participate by making an arrangement, bringing blooms home or donating materials.

Dina Andretta assembles handbuilt ceramic structures into unique plantscapes that operate as windows into other worlds. Her clay practice incorporates her love of plants and developed as a way to process grief after the loss of her partner in 2014.

Sasha Azbel works within a farm-to-fiber ecosystem that includes homegrown dye gardens and carefully foraged organic matter. Her eco-printed wall-hangings are infused with the colors and essence of cherished landscapes, and serve as symbols of a world that prospers through care and creativity.

Clementine Cavanagh’s playful paintings revel in the joy of surrounding oneself with beauty. She grows, buys, and arranges flowers to paint, pulling inspiration from the blooms themselves, the vessels that hold them, and her circa 1790s coastal Maine home in which she places them.

Kristen Kieffer’s practice reflects a holistic and careful tending of things and places. Her ceramics are extensions of her garden which she has grown to provide habitat and sustenance for local fauna, as well as for beauty. Spiderwebs, flowers, and various creatures adorn her work, which comes to life in a studio where she also raises monarch caterpillars. Graceful forms, refined patterns, and lively colors convey a design that is robust, elegant, and joyful. 

Nicole Kiernan responds to the rhythms, textures and colors of local landscapes. Multifunctional vessels feature earthy glazes and organic forms, designed not only to reflect elements of nature but also to hold them. Made for everyday use, her ceramics encourage moments of quiet intention and connection to the natural world.

Sarah Steedman’s paintings evoke the community of a summer garden. Birds, snakes, and other creatures inhabit lush foliage, while tablescapes busy with dishes, vegetables, and flowers feel ready for a gathering. Her energetic compositions are motivated by what she sees around her, and the historically women’s work of keeping a nourishing home through love, food, warmth, color, and light.

Cathy Rees’s ceramic practice responds to the native flora that inhabits the coast of Maine. Inspired by twenty-five years of work creating and maintaining gardens and doing ecological consulting, she translates the forms, patterns, and palettes of what she encounters in nature into sophisticated, functional ceramics.

Robin Reynolds draws inspiration from her backyard garden and works within seasonal cycles. Jewel-toned paintings of abstract blooms come to life in the summer, giving way to vibrant collages created indoors during the colder months. Through the lens of the garden, her work focuses on beauty, feminism, and our threatened environment; expressing the delicate nature of each and their implications of vulnerability within today’s changing world.

George Marshall Store Gallery, located at 140 Lindsay Road, York, is a contemporary art space specializing in exhibitions of emerging and mid-career artists from Maine and New England. See www.georgemarshallstoregallery.com for more information.