Envision Resilience: Shifting Tides and Evolving Landscapes—A Multimedia Exhibition Exploring Climate Futures Through Art and Design—Opens at SPACE Gallery on April 4
Local Artists Join Student Designers to Reflect on Adaptation, Place and Creative Possibility
Digital collage by Max Coolidge, Daniel Kelly, Livy Li and Peter Martinka 2025 (Yale School of Architecture, Professor Alan Plattus)
PORTLAND, Maine — Envision Resilience: Shifting Tides and Evolving Landscapes, a new multimedia exhibition bridging visual art and adaptive design, will open at SPACE Gallery on Friday, April 4 with a free community reception at 5 p.m., Envision Resilience announced today.
Through student and community partnerships, Envision Resilience works to advance innovative city planning and design in the face of climate change by annually convening students, professionals, artists and community members to envision resilient futures for coastal communities. The 2024 Envision Resilience Challenge, which took place in Portland and South Portland last fall, produced a catalog of adaptive design thinking with ideas for living shorelines, green stormwater infrastructure, housing that addresses materiality and circular economies and more accessible and resilient parks and community spaces.
Envision Resilience: Shifting Tides and Evolving Landscapes, curated by Portland-based artist Brian Smith in partnership with SPACE Gallery, showcases original works by seven Maine-based artists alongside the adaptive design thinking of students.
Poster for the SPACE Gallery opening on April 4, 2025. Background by Max Coolidge, Daniel Kelly, Livy Li and Peter Martinka of Yale School of Architecture. Graphics by Brian Smith.
Bridging art and science, the exhibit celebrates the commissioned works of local artists Benjamin Spalding, Lakota Sanborn, POSEY (aka Pamela Moulton), Haley Nannig, Ian Ellis, Michel Droge and Jordan Carey, whose art reflects deeply on resilience, materiality and the emotional and cultural ties connected to Maine’s coastline. From speculative futures to personal reflections, their pieces challenge audiences to see climate change as a space for creative transformation. The exhibition invites viewers to experience climate adaptation through multiple lenses—sculpture, painting, installation, mixed media, architecture and research. While rooted in different disciplines, both the artists and students share a common goal: to interpret the changing landscapes of Portland and South Portland and explore new ways of living alongside rising waters.
“This collection reflects a shared desire to connect with a changing world—and shows that connection can lead to a more imaginative, resilient future,” said artist and exhibition curator Brian Smith. “Curating this project, I saw how design students used art to process their experiences in Portland, much like the seven local artists do in exploring their relationship to the environment. It’s been exciting to see how these disciplines intersect, using art to make sense of place.”
This culminating installation follows earlier exhibitions at Portland Public Library and South Portland Public Library and marks the final chapter of a multi-site exhibition series that showcases to the communities the innovative design work and community engagement outcomes of the 18-month long Envision Resilience program in the region.
“We are thrilled to partner with SPACE for this exhibit and showcase the ways in which art can be a call to action for climate resilience and community dialogue," said Claire Martin, executive director of Envision Resilience. “This local partnership and the thoughtful work of the artists illustrate how powerful art, science and design can be when in conversation together.”
The 2024 Envision Resilience Portland and South Portland Challenge featured teams from eight universities: Cornell University, Harvard University, the University at Buffalo, the University of Maine at Augusta, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, Yale University and the University of Toronto. Before, during and after the fall 2024 semester, students immersed themselves in Portland and South Portland’s history, values and landscapes, researching climate vulnerabilities while proposing innovative design solutions that integrate housing, infrastructure, transportation, ecology, equity and local industry.
Throughout their design process, many students turned to artistic practices—drawing, building, animating—to gain a deeper understanding of place. Their final proposals, presented in conversation with the featured artists’ works at SPACE, offer hopeful visions for adaptive futures that are both imaginative and grounded in community.
Envision Resilience: Shifting Tides and Evolving Landscapes opens Friday, April 4 at 5 p.m. and registration is encouraged. The exhibit will be on view at SPACE Gallery at 534 Congress Street, Portland, through April 26 and is free and open to the public during gallery hours—Thursdays and Fridays noon to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
This installation runs in tandem with Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate at South Portland Public Library, on view through May 5.
Envision Resilience works to advance innovative city planning and design in the face of climate change through student and community partnerships. By connecting current and future professionals working across disciplines, the organization creates opportunities for communities to reimagine climate challenges and inspire resilient solutions. Envision Resilience, originally developed by Remain, is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
SPACE is a multi-disciplinary art center that promotes the arts and humanities through advocacy, programming, commissioning, statewide grantmaking, resource-sharing, and community collaboration. We work inside our home at 534-538 Congress Street, outside with public art and programming initiatives, statewide through our regranting programs, and (inter)nationally within our professional and artistic networks.
Founded in 2002, SPACE is a launchpad for ideas, an ever-evolving creative resource, and a coalition of values-based artists building a safe(r) space, performing arts venue, gallery, and maker hub in southern Maine.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday March 28, 2025
CONTACT:
Claire McElwain
Communications@envisionresilience.org
(317) 989-8140
