By Grant Terwilliger
The assistant professor of communication studies at SUNY Plattsburgh, Lauren Zito, presented as part of the series called Tuesday Talks on Oct. 29. Zito shared her experiences in Brigus, Newfoundland, as part of an artist residency and learning about the life of Kathleen Kent during the three weeks she spent at the Kent Cottage this summer.
The Kent Cottage was occupied by artist Rockwell Kent from 1914 to 1915 with his wife, Kathleen Kent, and their three children. There is a famous picture of Kathleen Kent and the three children during this time period at the Kent Cottage; she was thought to be pregnant in the photo.
Kathleen Kent was born in 1890 as Kathleen Whiting and was Rockwell Kent’s first wife. The two married in 1908 and had five children — after their divorce in 1925, she moved to Vermont.
One of the things that Zito was interested in going into the artist residency at Kent Cottage was the letters between Kathleen and Rockwell Kent. Their relationship was tumultuous, as Rockwell outwardly had relationships with other women and Kathleen knew them by name.
“He had open mistresses that she had to attend to, but (Kathleen and Rockwell Kent) kept coming back together. So many of Rockwell’s letters are still archived and stay safe because he often wrote on really nice paper. She would write on whatever she could find, because she didn’t have a whole lot of money,” Zito said.
After being accepted into the residency, Zito set out with all of the gear she needed to feed her creative ambitions and bring her projects into reality.
“I actually drove to Newfoundland because I didn’t want to go on a plane and travel light because of my cameras. I wouldn’t be able to have as much as I could have. So I put everything in the car and took a ferry across,” Zito said.
According to Zito, the cottage was off a beaten path and had limited electricity from a solar panel, no wifi and little cell service. Not only do the organizers and preservers of the site offer visual artist residencies, but they also invite writers and musicians among other creatives to get a residency at the site.
On Zito’s first day at the cottage, she sprained her foot, which transformed the journey that she was embarking on. Instead of exploring the cottage and places around the Brigus, she was now forced to think smaller.
“It kind of hobbled me for the rest of the trip. So I had to sit down and think, OK, what can I do here? The rest of me is still working, you know, so what else can I do?” Zito said. “Most of what I shot and what I explored (ended up being) in the cottage itself.”
Zito was able to piece together a sketch and a working script based on the emotions and feelings she felt within the cottage as well as how Kathleen Kent may have felt throughout her life and marriage.
“I imagined Kathleen at three different ages: very young when she was in New England, with a few children after the divorce, at middle age and then when she’s older, and they come together in this space and have these conversations,” Zito said. “I’ve sort of built the script off the letters. It’s really more about her mindset — what it must have been like to be there and just sort of experiencing that space.”
