ART IN THE HEART
OF EASTON
Zach Gallery is a contemporary art gallery featuring curated, rotating exhibitions by both emerging and established artists. The gallery is located on the main level of Prager Family Center for the Arts in historic downtown Easton, Maryland.
David Rathbone
BIG WATER
Exhibition on view November 6, 2026 - January 2, 2027
Wednesday - Saturday | 10 AM - 4 PM
About the Artist
David Rathbone
David Rathbone is a photographer and printmaker based in Virginia Beach, Virginia, known for long-term landscape projects realized as hand-coated platinum-palladium prints made in his studio. His first book, Big Water: Photographs from Virginia's Eastern Shore, was published in 2023, followed by A Changeable Sea: Photographs from the North Atlantic in early 2026. His work has been exhibited across the country, including at the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel, California; the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, Massachusetts; and the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
ABOUT BIG WATER
Growing up in Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore would appear like a mirage across the Chesapeake Bay. Some days it was visible; others, it was gone. Although only 17 miles of water separate the two places, the distance always seemed much greater.
For years, I saw the Eastern Shore mainly as a passageway between cities farther up and down the East Coast. That changed in 2017, when I began venturing off Route 13 and exploring the side roads, marshes, and state parks along the peninsula. What began as a series of day trips became a five-year project documenting the landscape with my camera.
The work began at Kiptopeke State Park. In the native Accawmacke language, “Kiptopeke” means “Big Water,” a name that became the title of the project. Wherever you are on the narrow peninsula, water is never far away. Oyster farmers and fishermen work the shores, container ships move through the Chesapeake Bay, and farmland remains an important part of the region.
As such there is a utility to much of this landscape. The land and water serve a purpose. But within that purpose, there is also beauty. These photographs are an attempt to pay attention to that intersection of land, water, work, and quiet.
Thank you for coming to the exhibition. I hope you enjoy the work and find something here that stays with you after you leave.
SPECIAL GUEST EXHIBITION
CHARLOTTE POTTER KASIC
The Weight of Ornament
November 6, 2026 - January 2, 2027
Charlotte Potter Kasic is a conceptual artist and designer who has shaped her professional practice around her curiosity, passion and enthusiasm about glass. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2010 and a BFA from Alfred University in 2003. In this age of over-connectivity, Charlotte Potter’s studio practice seeks to visualize relationships and the impact they can have on the self/self identity, often employing a combination of new and old technology. Gravitating towards glass as a material and inspiration because of its ability to hold a dual identity; as hot and cold, fragile and strong, elastic and brittle, her works materialize as installation, sculpture, performance, and video.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at galleries, museums and universities and is included in numerous public museum and private collections. Currently Charlotte is the Director at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland.
Events at Zach Gallery
NOVEMBER EXHIBITION
DAVID RATHBONE
Big Water
Artist Talk | Thursday, November 12 | 5 PM
November 6, 2026 - January 2, 2027
David Rathbone is an American photographer, printmaker, and woodworker living and working in Virginia Beach, VA. His work explores the beauty of landscapes and our connection to them.
Join us during the opening week of Big Water as David Rathbone discusses his work alongside moderator Matthew Moore, Director of Education and Interpretation at the Academy Art Museum in Easton.
WRITER'S WORKSHOP WITH
LYNN AULD SCHWARTZ
WHERE LANDS MEETS WATER
Wednesday, November 19 | 5:30 - 7:30 PM
$25 Per Person
Discover how David Rathbone’s Big Water palladium photographs can inspire new stories through ekphrasis—writing in response to visual art. Through guided observation and imaginative prompts, we’ll explore place, memory, and the contrasts between land and
water to spark fresh ideas and begin a new piece of writing.
Your instructor is Lynn Auld Schwartz, a story development editor and ghostwriter with more than 20 years of experience guiding writers in fiction, memoir, short-form narrative, and playwriting. Her work has been presented in Atlanta and New York City, including at Lincoln Center, and she has received two Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in Fiction. She has taught writing at St. John’s College, The Writer’s Center, and Maryland Hall.