Artist Statement

ARRT! (Artists’ Rapid Response Team) partners with progressive organizations in Maine that engage in abolitionist work. We work to help them envision their mission in the images we create with and for them, usually painted on large canvas banners they can use for demonstrations, press conferences, rallies, etc.

Featured Works: (1-5) Abolition with barbed wire, acrylic on canvas, 35″ x 78″, 2021; Abolition with prison bars, acrylic on canvas, 30″ x 60″,  2021; White Supremacy is a Virus, acrylic on wood panel, 24″x 32″, 2020; Rebuild the Safety Net, acrylic on wood panel,  24″x 32″, 2020; Three placards for Maine Youth Justice, digital photo, 2020.

Artist Bio

ARRT! (Artists’ Rapid Response Team) collaborates with 100+ non-profit, progressive groups to promote social change in Maine. This collective of approximately twelve artists meets monthly to create issue-oriented, socially-engaged banners and props. Grants have enabled us to pay artists stipends, making us engaged activists, able to reconcile sophisticated aesthetic goals with political objectives, while collaborating with diverse artists and non-artists alike.

Activist groups that are too small, understaffed or underfunded to be able to hire consultants appreciate how rapidly we can respond to the issues that arise and love the media attention and excitement that our banners generate for them. We provide a visual voice for their message. We make complex issues visible on the street and we look forward to helping these groups disseminate their images through social media. ARRT! creates positive social change in Maine through Issue-oriented banners – a project of Union of Maine Visual Artists. More at facebook.com/ArtistsRapidResponseTeam/.