EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate
An Exhibition Series
January 2025 - May 2025
The Gulf of Maine is warming three to four times faster than the global ocean average. Sea levels are rising and extreme storm events are becoming more frequent, as exemplified during the winter storms of 2023 and 2024 in Portland, South Portland and communities up and down the coastline of Maine. Last year, coastal and inland flooding set record high tides, caused significant damage and prompted costly recovery efforts that are still ongoing. Mainers, however, are no strangers to historic storms and have a long history of recovering, rebuilding and reimagining.
The Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate exhibition series builds on that spirit. It serves as a call to action, inspiring residents of Portland, South Portland and the Casco Bay Islands to reimagine the future of their neighborhoods, working waterfronts, public parks, housing stock and existing infrastructure in a more hopeful, resilient way.
Curated by local artist Brian Smith, each exhibit features the innovative architectural and landscape designs by students participating in the 2024 Envision Resilience Portland and South Portland Challenge accompanied by a collection of visionary art by local artists.
Portland Public Library
February 7 - March 15, 2025
Opening Event: Friday, February 7 | 5 - 7 p.m.
5 Monument Sq, Portland, ME 04101
Please join us for the official exhibition opening in the Community Gallery as part of Portland Creative’s First Friday Art Walk. Parking is available on the street, in the Elm Street Parking Garage or Midtown Parking Garage (enter from Monument Sq or Free St).
Community Conversation on Envisioning Resilient Futures with Design Students
Saturday, February 8 | 3 - 5 p.m.
Portland Public Library | Rines Auditorium
On the heels of the Portland Public Library Opening for the Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate Exhibition, hear from student participants in the 2024 Challenge about their design process, site visit experiences and project outcomes.
South Portland Public Library
March - May 2025
Opening Event: Friday, March 21 | 5 - 7 p.m.
482 Broadway, South Portland, ME 04106
Please join us for the South Portland Public Library exhibition opening in March—details forthcoming.
SPACE Gallery
April 4 - 26, 2025
Opening Event: Friday, April 4 | 5 - 8 p.m.
534 Congress St, Portland, ME 04101
Please join us for the SPACE Gallery exhibition opening on Friday, April 4 from 5 - 8 p.m.
Community Conversation on Envisioning Resilient Futures with Design Students
Friday February 8, 2025
Portland Public Library | 5 Monument Square, Portland, ME 04101
As a continuation of the Exhibition Series opening weekend, Envision Resilience hosted a community conversation and student presentation panel on some of the design work featured in the exhibition. Included in the programming was the premiere of the 2024 Envision Resilience Portland and South Portland Challenge film. Thank you to everyone who attended—we look forward to seeing you at the South Portland Public Library exhibition opening on March 21, 2025!
Photo credit to Nick Eaton, Life in Focus Photography and video credit to Juliette Sutherland, Juliette Films.
Student presenters (L-R): Eloisa DeGroote and Rohan Glendinning (University of Maine at Augusta), Avondale Nixon (University of Toronto), Jayna Sames (University of Michigan), Amanda Carmen Bower (Cornell University) and Garrett Craig-Lucas (Harvard Graduate School of Design).
Designs for Living in A Changing Climate
Exhibition Series Opening Night
Friday February 7, 2025
Portland Public Library | 5 Monument Square, Portland, ME 04101
In conjunction with Creative Portland’s First Friday Art Walk, Envision Resilience opened the Designs for Living in A Changing Climate Exhibition Series at the Portland Public Library’s Community Gallery from 5 - 7 p.m. Over 250 local partners and community members, along with students and faculty whose involvement span back to the first iteration of the Challenge, came through the exhibit. Thank you to the Portland Public Library’s entire team for their championship of the Envision Resilience Challenge and thank you to everyone who came out to support!
Photo credit to Nick Eaton, Life in Focus Photography.
Envision Resilience Mural Community Celebration
Tuesday, August 20, 2024
2:30pm | 1200 Acushnet Ave, New Bedford, MA 02746
The Envision Resilience Mural Project, led by New Bedford Creative, Love the Ave and supported by a grant from Remain, tells through art the story of a community working together to be imaginative and adaptive in the face of a changing climate and rising sea levels—predicted to rise between 2 and 7 feet in the region by 2100—by envisioning resilient futures.
The mural, installed by local artist David Andrews, depicts an illustration by Ethan Moyer, a student of Assistant Professor Jess Worby at the University of Massachusetts’ Dartmouth College of Visual and Performing Arts, which took part in the 2023 Envision Resilience Challenge. Students of Worby’s Posters, Comics, & the Illustration Marketplace class were tasked with designing activist-style posters with a call to action around coastal resilience in New Bedford and Fairhaven.
The phrase “Envision Resilience” appears in three languages on the mural: Spanish, Portuguese and English. The celebrated the mural’s installation on Tuesday, August 20 at 2:30 p.m. by the Sawyer Street exterior of the "North End Stereo" building.
Thank you to everyone who came out to support!
Photo credit to Colleen MacRamos and New Bedford Creative.
Ethan Moyer worked with Love the Ave, New Bedford Creative and residents in the North End to create a design that reflects the community.
February AHA! Night: Envision Resilience x CVPA
February 8, 2024
New Bedford Art Museum
608 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Envision Resilience teamed up with University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts for New Bedford’s monthly AHA! Night, celebrating the seven courses (Music, Game Design, Illustration, Graphic Design, Sculpture, Art Education and Art History) that integrated the Challenge into their curriculum. Check out some of the highlights below!
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas
January 26 - March 23, 2024
New Bedford Art Museum
608 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
The New Bedford Art Museum is open Thursday-Sunday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Stay tuned for future programming.
Watch highlights from the January 26 opening in this video article from the New Bedford Light.
New Bedford Art Museum
Opening Reception
Friday, January 26, 2024 | 4 - 6 p.m.
608 Pleasant Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
Featuring work from: Howard University, Northeastern University, Rhode Island School of Design, University of Florida, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and University of Virginia.
Image courtesy of the New Bedford Art Museum.
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas
Open June 4-26, 2022
Design proposals from six universities in the Envision Resilience Narragansett Bay Challenge will be showcased in a month-long exhibition at the WaterFire Arts Center this June. Explore the vibrant history of the Narragansett Bay region, its resilient communities and the adaptive possibilities for its future.
WaterFire Arts Center
Gallery
475 Valley Street
Providence, RI 02908
Wednesday – Sunday | Open 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Open until 9:00 pm on Thursdays
Featuring work from University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, Syracuse University, Northeastern University and the University of Florida
Public Art Installation “Rising Above” (October 2021)
In October 2021, ReMain Nantucket, Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge, The Nantucket Dreamland and several local artists collaborated for a public art installation, “Rising Above.” The installation told the history and envisioned the future of the island’s resilience with a light projection onto a historic scallop shanty at 4 Old North Wharf owned by fifth-generation Nantucketer Ginger Andrew. "Rising Above" is a call to action and an ode to Nantucket’s history of resilience and adaptive community spirit.
Envision Resilience: Designs for Living with Rising Seas
July - December 2021
Design proposals from five leading universities in the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge were showcased in an exhibition at the Thomas Macy Warehouse, a historic Nantucket building itself threatened by sea level rise. Through the students’ designs, over 2,500 visitors explored the rich history of Nantucket’s relationship with water, the island’s resilience and adaptability to change.
In conjunction with the exhibition and to further community engagement on the topic of coastal resilience, the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge hosted the following events in 2021:
“Climate, Coffee and Conversation” Roundtable Series
July
2021
”Resilient Landscapes in a Changing Climate”
A lunch time talk featuring Dr. Jack Ahern, Professor Emeritus of Landscape Architecture UMASS Amherst with Nantucket based landscape designers Elisabeth O’Rourke of Jardins International and Julie Jordin of Julie Jordin Landscapes.
Topic:
Beautiful and sustainable approaches to landscaping your property using native grasses and shrubs to save water, reduce fertilizer use and in doing so, protect our vulnerable water and coastal resources.
September
2021
“Resilience in Landscapes”
"Climate, Coffee and Conversation” series hosted by ERNC advisors Jennifer Karberg, PhD of Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Sarah T. Bois, PhD of Linda Loring Nature Foundation and Emily Molden of Nantucket Land Council.
Topic:
The conversation explored how these three local experts see the impacts of climate change on Nantucket’s coastlines, harbors, grasslands and wetlands and how the island is uniquely positioned to address the challenges ahead.
October
2021
“Preservation and Resilience”
“Climate, Coffee and Conversation” series hosted by ERNC advisors Bob Miklos, Co-Chair, Artist and Founding Principal, DesignLAB Architects and Mary Bergman, Historian and Executive Director, Nantucket Preservation Trust
Topic:
The themes discussed at this roundtable focused on the built and cultural heritage, through the lens of the unique and essential qualities of Nantucket, as we face new climate-related challenges in landscape, architectural character and adaptation to change.
October
2021
“Real Estate and Development”
"Climate, Coffee and Conversation” series hosted by Bruce Beni, Real Estate Broker and Co-President of the Nantucket Shellfish Association and Matthew R. MacEachern, Founder and Principal of Emeritus, a leading Nantucket architect.
Topic:
In the midst of a record year for real estate sales on Nantucket, Bruce and Matt shared their often challenging conversations with prospective home buyers about rising sea levels on properties in the floodplain and eroding shoreline areas to the ways nature based design can enhance the resilience of properties across the island.
December
2021
Nantucket Youth Climate Committee Cafe
Wrapping up the year and the “Climate Coffee and Conversation” series, Envision Resilience Nantucket welcomed Nantucket High School’s Youth Climate Committee which has seen their membership grow substantially in 2021.
Topic:
A team of students from YCC hosted ERNC advisors Jennifer Karberg, PhD of Nantucket Conservation Foundation and Sarah T. Bois, PhD of Linda Loring Nature Foundation to present and review Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Advisory Committee plan authored by Dutch engineering firm, Arcadis. Over 50 students and local residents attended the event.
First Coffee, Climate & Conversation Roundtable
Thursday, June 16 | 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
FREE | Coffee and sandwiches
Registration requested
Coffee, Climate and Conversation: A roundtable discussion co-hosted by 11th Hour Racing and ReMain Nantucket.
Join us for coffee, sandwiches and a discussion on coastal resilience efforts, challenges and opportunities in the state of Rhode Island with our panelists Wenley Ferguson, Director of Habitat Restoration at Save the Bay and Tim Mooney, Marketing and Communications Manager and Catherine Campbell, Associate Director of Philanthropy, both of The Nature Conservancy, as they discuss on-the-ground projects, building partnerships on new initiatives and highlighting changes in practices needed at the municipal and property-owner level.