MARIA FRATI is an oil painter and relief printmaker who grew up in the woods of Maine and hails from a family of artists. Maria has exhibited in Seattle, Baltimore, Asheville and Portland, Maine. She also served as an Artist in Residence for the National Parks Foundation. Maria is currently represented by Grovewood Gallery in Asheville, NC. Before relocating to Raleigh, Maria worked as a high school art teacher in New York City.
“My work is a mix of observation and personal fable about memory and experience in the natural world. I’m currently investigating the oppositional forces and tensions embedded in nature. For example the fragility and brutality of life cycles. These cycles were impactful on my young life in rural Maine where I spent lots of time observing and communing with these spaces. More recently, my journey through pregnancies, miscarriages and young children root me back to these spaces and their forces. I’m reminded of my animalness and the ways that this has made me feel powerless and small and simultaneously connected and alive. I hope my work conveys the movement, fragility and alchemy of these elements.”
