From over one hundred submissions by members of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), curator Carl Little selected 60 works for the group exhibition Washed Away, on view in the Lewis Gallery of the Portland Public Library. The paintings, drawings, artists’ books, sculptures, and videos all express or narrate the theme of “washed away” from a timely and urgent perspective. “The art is vital and often moving, the materials optimized to underscore the messages,” says Little.

Many works evoke the lived experiences of winter storms on the Maine coast, documenting the impact of climate change on Maine communities and reflecting on the broader implications of flooding and other severe weather events provoked by climate change. In A Walk by the River (2019), a dimensional weaving made from hand-dyed basketry materials, Kimberly Harding depicts the exposed roots of trees on the bank of the Presumpscot River after a storm. The river in this scene is constructed with the tightest weave, rendering it as the most stable and dominant form and suggesting that the force of water is undeniable.

Exhibition works also express the devastation of war, the dissolution of personal and reproductive rights, and the seeming inadequacy of language for this uniquely terrifying moment. Sally Stanton’s Roar (2024) is composed of human and nonhuman figures, most rendered in electric reds, their emotional states ranging from contemplative, serene, and loving to sick and furious. Anita Clearfield created her video animation Before the Flood: The Last Capitalist (2018) by printing hundreds of video frames and then drawing on top of them with acrylic and charcoal. In an unsettling performance that is both irreverent and horrifying, the artist invites viewers into the exhibition by borrowing the language and cadence of a circus ringmaster. Her voice becomes increasingly unintelligible until a mad brushwork of painted waves swallows her.

As much as the works in Washed Away sound the alarm, they also offer real and metaphorical bulwarks—showing what there is to cling to and urging viewers to hold fast. David Dodge Lewis’s Life Ring #1( 2022–23) is gorgeously and aptly rendered in fluid, shifting, erasable mediums of graphite, wax, charcoal, ink, and Conté crayon. Inspired by the artist’s hikes on Monhegan Island, the drawing is one of these bulwarks, a battered but stalwart lifeline. Marcie Jan Bronstein writes in the artist statement that accompanies her ceramic sculpture The Three Graces (2024), “In the wake of this year’s events, what saved me was what always saves me: working in my studio, swimming, walking: centering myself in color, shape, movement, ritual, quiet, privacy. The swimmers have found freedom and joy in a most improbable realm of clay. In a chaotic, barbaric world, swimming with grace and fluidity is both rebellion and salvation.”

The UMVA was founded 50 years ago by and for artists, with a mission to advocate for “artists’ interests, rights, and mutual support.” Member exhibitions, often initiated with open calls like this one, provide opportunities to share new work but also bring members together in a shared space for conversation. “UMVA exhibitions are opportunities for gathering,” says Little, who is also a longtime member and has known many of the exhibiting artists for years. “This union,” he adds, “represents a community of Maine artists committed to enhancing our lives through artwork meant to provoke and please.”   

Washed Away: An Exhibition by members of the Union of Maine Visual Artists will be on view at the Lewis Gallery located in the Portland Public Library from May 2 until June 28, 2025.