ARRT! (The Artists’ Rapid Response Team!) works with progressive groups and organizations throughout Maine, providing images that can help to distill and clarify their important messages about issues that matter to people in Maine and the world beyond our borders. ARRT! is a project of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA), a members’ organization of artists helping artists.
Collaboration is the driving force behind ARRT!’s active spring. In early June, ARRTists gathered to paint and plan. As the group discussed logistics in preparation for an upcoming ARRT! residency at the Passamaquoddy reservation, ARRTists painted some yard signs to bring along as starting points, and some signs to place on Greenhorn’s buildings in Pembroke, ARRT!’s host for the week.
ARRT! worked with Dwayne Tomah, the Sipayik Museum’s director, and Ellen Nicholas, the art teacher at Sipayik Elementary School, to plan the week long project with the children and community members. Murals and yard signs which integrated Passamaquoddy words, images, legends, and symbols were designed and painted by the children and the community’s artists and ARRT! A large highway sign welcoming people to the Sipayik Museum was also painted. The 75 yard signs placed around the reservation will help celebrate and teach the language. There will be much more to share in the fall MAJ so stay tuned! The project had the support of the Onion Foundation,the Cobscook Bay Fund, and a donor-advised fund at the Maine Community Foundation.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy word for bird.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy word for eye.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy words for egg and nest.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy word for whale.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy words for horses and blueberry.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy word for spider.
ARRT! yard sign with Passamaquoddy word for mosquito.
Yard signs at the Sipayik School.
Yard signs at the Sipayik School.
Thunderbird (cipelahq), the school’s mascot, mural at the Sipayik School.
Students working on Tamtamsisok mural, the mischievous creatures that come out at night.
Tamtamsisok mural detail.
Tamtamsisok mural detail with dancers.
ARRT! coordinator, Natasha Mayers (left) and artist/art teacher, Ellen Nicholas in front of the Tamtamsisok mural.
Sea serpents (aputamkin) mural at the Sipayik School.
Little eagles (cihpolakon) mural at the Sipayik School.
Dawnland mural at the Sipayik School with suns, mother earth , and constellations.
Some of the ARRTists at the Passamaquoddy Residency in June (Cynthia, Lee, Jean, Jane H, Jane P-C, Christine, Robin, and Anita (missing: David, Hale, Natasha)
In June ARRT! also painted a banner for our membership organization, the Union of Maine Visual Artists. As you will read in the UMVA updates in this issue, the UMVA will be hosting a Gala in August. We felt that it was high time for ARRT! to make a banner!
ARRT! banner for the UMVA.
May was a productive month with more community collaboration. Members of Maine Inside Out and the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition joined ARRTists to create banners and placards for the Maine Juneteenth Parade Block Party and Performance. (The festival will be an expression of the joys, struggles, and strength of Lewiston and celebrate the power of art and community to bring us together in joy and in pain.)
ARRT! placard painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.
Maine Inside Out creates theater for social change in schools, prisons and in the community, creating powerful theater to inform and engage the greater community in dialogue.
ARRTists at work!
ARRTists at work!
ARRT! placard painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.
ARRT! placard painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.
Group photo of ARRTists and members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out at Merrymeeting Hall in Bowdoinham in May.
ARRT! banner painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.
ARRT! banner painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.
The images below will give an indication of the breadth of our spring of action.
ARRT! banner painted for the New England Arab American Organization to encourage and educate people to vote.
ARRTists at work.
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner for the Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! placard for Peace vigils in Brunswick.
ARRTists at work.
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner to educate voters about Ranked Choice Voting for Democracy Maine (Maine League of Women Voters, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, and Maine Students Vote)
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner with Maine Climate Action Now and Divest Maine to support effort to get the Maine Public Employees Retirement System to divest from fossil fuels (painted for the CEBE Climate Convergence conference)
Selfie placards in progress, to be completed at the CEBE Climate Convergence conference sponsored by Maine Climate Action Now
Selfie placards as an interactive activity at the Climate Convergence Conference.
Selfie placards as an interactive activity at the Climate Convergence Conference.
Selfie placards as an interactive activity at the Climate Convergence Conference.
Below are some House signs for Greenhorn in Pembroke, made this spring during ARRT! paint sessions.
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner for the Biddeford Community Gardens project.
The Artists’ Rapid Response Team (ARRT!) is a project of the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA). ARRT! is grateful for the support of the UMVA and a donor-advised fund of the Maine Community Foundation. UMVA members and others are always welcome to join in, and ARRT! is always on the lookout for organizations in need of our services. Check out our website and our Facebook page for updates!
Image at top: ARRT! banner painted in collaboration with members of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition and Maine Inside Out for Juneteenth Celebration in Lewiston.