Art exhibit celebrates the ties that bind Nancy Romines Walters’ work comes to Rockport

Family ties.

Sometimes they bind. Other times they suffocate.

But they don’t usually cascade down the wall, crisscross a window like a spider’s web or dangle from the ceiling. Until now.

In “Some Families and the Ties that Bind,” on view through Dec. 17 at Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Nancy Romines Walters explores relationships in all their transfixing forms.

The first portion of the show celebrates life in bloom – and ripe for the picking. Plump plastic grapes, raspberries and chili peppers become sculptural elements in Walters’ hands. She wraps these fruits in tiny hand-crocheted buntings, stocking caps and hammocks and mounts them on the wall like artful science specimens.

If this sounds ridiculous, it’s not – you need to see it to understand the subtle beauty of Walters’ installation. Using tacky craft-store fruit, crochet and needlepoint, plastic flowers, marbles, rocks and strings, she creates a fresh, elegant visual experience.

In “All about Eve: The In Crowd,” gray pearls snuggled in pale copper sweaters flow down the wall like a peacock’s tail at rest. The play of shadows becomes part of the composition in “Gene Pool,” a diamond-shaped arrangement of delicate fish-tank flora.

Part two of the exhibition takes a longer view of life and lineage, and Walters literally ties together the genealogical and the geological. In “Direct Descendants,” stones wrapped in string dangle from the ceiling like a beaded curtain. The filament is delicate, yet sturdy. A more substantial crocheted bedspread, studded with smooth, striated river rocks, has a nostalgic feel to it.

There’s a subtlety that resonates with the viewer in this contemplative space, and Walters’ use of traditional domestic arts reinforces the family metaphor.

So, too, do the connections Walters forges, both literal and figurative. By stringing together objects, she creates a haven for viewers to reflect on the complex ties that bind – and connect – in their own lives.

Nancy Romines Walters will discuss her drawings, photographs and installations at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at Center for Maine Contemporary Art, 162 Russell Ave., Rockport. For information, call 236-2875 or visit www.artsmaine.org.