Notecards of this image can be ordered here.

All prints are handmade by Peter Ralston on archival rag paper with an archival ink set.

Small Matted Prints - This collection is printed on 8.5 x 11 inch sheets, matted, ready to be framed.

New Work - This open edition is a collection of images created since January 2004. They are printed on 17 x 22 inch sheets.

The Master Prints - This limited edition (LE) collection of 25 images were selected as especially important to the artist. This edition is limited to 50 prints of each image plus ten artist proofs (AP). They are printed on 24 x 36 inch sheets.

Custom sizes of this image are available by special request.

The story behind The Crack

Great Gott is one of 285 islands off the coast of Maine that have lost their year round communities, and the island exists today as a beautiful seasonal home for a couple of dozen summer families.

Friends there live in the childhood home of the late acclaimed writer, Ruth Moore, a home they have so thoughtfully respected that it is brimming with memories of and glimpses into the past.

It was in Miss Moore’s former bedroom that I came upon her washbasin and pitcher, a truly electric moment. There, on the old nightstand, was this venerable monument overflowing with the mysteries of years and lives ago. 

As I drew closer, I saw the crack and in that silent, stuffy, hot room the flaw spoke to the fragility of the worlds we build around ourselves, of the lives and the qualities that flicker out so quickly when the tide inevitably runs the “other” way.

The crack specifically spoke to me of the tragic loss of their son, a stunning reminder of how truly fragile this world – and we - are.