AUGUSTA — A panel discussion, “Leaving a Trace: Art + Climate Change,” will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in the Charles Danforth Gallery, UMA Augusta campus, 46 University Drive.

The discussion is part of the current exhibition, “Stillness,” by Susan Bickford on view until Oct. 27.

The four panelists include David Fields, senior research scientist zooplankton ecologist, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences; Jan Piribeck, professor of digital art and foundations University of Southern Maine; Julie Poitras Santos, artist and assistant professor, MFA in Studio Art, Maine College of Art; and Anna Witholt Abaldo, co-director, Joseph A. Fiore Art Center, Gallery Curator Maine Farmland Trust.

The diverse panelists will describe the work that they do as related to “Art + Climate Change,” and give an example of how it is able to shift the public consciousness toward conservation or not. They also will respond to questions such as: What do we need to make visible to slow down/arrest climate change? How do we work together scaling our efforts to effect a larger shift? Is there any proof? How do we overcome powerlessness? What are the questions we need to be posing right now?

The exhibition is a work of performance art centered around the reversing falls in Sheepscot Village. It was shot from five cameras which have been synched, and exist in this show as a video installation. Bickford invited 10 artists to retreat for three days to experience the stillness at the falls, drop into it and respond. The result is a deep ecological approach to art making, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and improvisational.

For more information, visit ArtsUMA.com.


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