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.
The theme for this MAJ issue, Words and Images, is what ARRT! is all about! After the government stripped funding from our national parks, ARRTists photo bombed our beloved Acadia National Park with censored words and images to amplify concerns. Social media posts went through the roof–half a million at last count!!! It is reassuring to know how much people care about the parks, our shared history, and the environmental impacts of climate change. The viral sharing and posting of these images also allows us to see how well-informed citizens are about the dismantling of services, protections, and the very institutions we all rely on. We are living in a moment blistering with the abuses of power, and Americans are standing up, speaking out, and supporting each other.
If you click on an image below it will enlarge.
ARRT! sessions are increasing in size and production. Our collective concern brings us together but our shared process, the physical act of painting and creating, transform the anxiety to joy and appreciation. Together we will get through this. Below are images of communities working together with ARRT! This fall members of the Somali/Bantu Community Association joyfully created banners and placards highlighting their association, the farms they work, the produce they sell at farmers markets across the state, and the values they live by. Click on an image below to view in a slide show format.
ARRT! banners and placards are being spotted all over Maine. The issues, participants, and locations vary. Keep your eyes open, you may catch our work when you least expect it! Jump in and celebrate our freedom of speech on whatever issue moves you to speak out.
ARRT!, We Are Watching, Bowdoinham, Maine.
ARRT!ists pack up the mailboxes.
ARRT!, No ICE banner.
ARRT! placard in shop window.
ARRT!ist with No ICE banner.
Street protest with ARRT! placard.
ARRT! placards on display.
ARRT! banner displayed behind Ifraax Saciid-Ciise, director of nonprofit IFKA Community Services, as she stands in front of her business on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham, Staff Photographer, Central Maine Daily).
The work continues, the issues grow and are often connected.
ARRT! placard of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot words for Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! placard of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot words for Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! placard of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot words for Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! placard of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot words for Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! banner for the Wabanaki Alliance.
ARRT! placard Palestine Statehood Now.
ARRT! banner for Eat Downeast! Campaign for Greenhorns.
In December, ARRT! worked on a banner and some placards for a group opposing a proposed Data Center in Lewiston. Activists and concerned citizen plan to attend the city council meeting, with ideas for affordable housing and much more people-centered activities, rather than the pollution, noise, energy use, and the giant tax breaks the corporation demands.
ARRTist at work.
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner, Make the Mills Great Again. (Lewiston residents are asking the City Council for affordable housing and other smarter, people-oriented uses of the mill instead of a Data AI center that is demanding a huge tax break.)
Small signs for Lewiston project.
ARRT! banner, Is This What We Voted For?, for Lincoln County Indivisible.
ARRT! placard SNAP Is Local.
ARRT! placard SNAP Is Local.
ARRT! placard SNAP Is Local.
Greater Portland Family Promise requested a banner to use at events and community gatherings. A group of committed painters came out on a snowy day to collaborate on the banner and others.
ARRTists at work.
ARRT! banner, for Greater Portland Family Promise.
Portland Family Promise crew with ARRT! banner.
Join us for the next gathering of ARRT! on 11 January in Bowdoinham. We gather from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. at Merrymeeting Grange Hall, 27 Main Street. The Bowdoinham Historical Society is our host, and the sign out front says “Merrymeeting Books.” We potluck lunch and provide coffee. Email mayersnatasha@gmail.com for more info, or if you plan on coming.
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 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! Visit our website to see hundreds of the banners, signs, and props we’ve made over the past twelve years.
Image at top: ARRT! placard at Acadia National Park.