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����ֱ�� Professor of Art Stephen Burt, B.F.A., M.F.A., will have his artwork featured in the Union of Maine Visual Artists’ exhibition “Washed Away” that will be on display at the Portland Public Library from May 2 to June 28.

The Union, a 50-year-old nonprofit that advocates for Maine artists and art, asked its 400 members to consider the theme of what was washed away last year when two historic back-to-back storms hit the Maine coast, destroying wharves, piers, homes, and commercial fishing boats. The exhibition explores all that was washed away in 2024 — land, jobs, housing, docks, businesses, personal rights — and also “what saved you?”

The two powerful storms that hit Maine within several days in January 2024 caused an estimated $90 million in damages, leading the Maine Legislature to appropriate a record $60 million in storm recovery funds. At least 60% of Maine’s working waterfront was damaged or destroyed by the storm surge and high tides resulting from the storms, according to the state.

“Wind and water dragged the remnants off to sea. Similarly, disruptions to our long-held beliefs, faiths, and individual rights were pummeled by the powerful, exposing us to new levels of vulnerability. Our very sense of what is true was thrown into doubt,” the Union described in its call for art submissions.

Burt, whose work is included in several esteemed collections from the Portland Museum of Art to Harvard University and the New York Public Library, said that society is “at a precipice, yet we seem incapable of the drastic actions necessary to stop the destruction.” Art can help address the current climate chaos, Burt said, in the way it can “nudge our collective consciousness into action.”

“I want to create images that simultaneously frighten and entrance,” said Burt, a professor in ����ֱ��’s School of Arts and Humanities. “I want to make it clear to the viewer that it is time to pay attention if we wish not to follow the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the Dodo, the Great Auk into oblivion. It is clear now that our writing and language have not prepared us for the challenges and crises of our current world. In fact, language has been used to cleverly obscure the very real and pressing issues of our time.”

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, May 2, at the library, located at 5 Monument Square in Portland. A curated talk will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, June 6, at the same location.

The exhibit also will be featured in the May issue of Maine Home and Design magazine.