We almost got "Washed Away"
during a king tide at Portland Pier
This is my photo from the event, where my painting “Dance with the Sea” got it’s long awaited baptism in the tidal flood waters.
It’s hanging on the “house” on the left. The 24 x 30” painting has tulle fabric sprouting from canvas (referencing dance costuming) as well as choreographic notations (ala Merce Cunningham, who notated as if looking from above at the patterns made by the dancers on the floor) in gold ink. I need to rephotograph the piece and put it up on my website.
The impetus for this was UMVA’s Washed Away exhibition at the Portland Public Library, 5 Monument Square, which is up until June 21st. Other special events associated with the show include juror Carl Little’s gallery talk on June 6th at 5:30, about how he chose 60 out of the 100 entries for the show, plus a presentation from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) on local flooding and art.
A GMRI associate Evan Paris wanted bring art to the idea of localized flooding and the big king tide of this spring was this past week at midnight. To highlight the fact that our climate emergency is happening literally while people sleep. We were able to get a reporter out there from the Press Herald and this is Penalope Overton’s story about the event, although I did correct the title of Judith’s piece in the story. There I go again, being an editor ; ~ D
“Actors portray a family trying to cook, clean and stay safe while floodwaters rise in this performance art piece from painter Judith Greene Janse titled “Nothing Has Changed.” The performance was part of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s midnight flooding walk Wednesday at Portland Pier, when the spring’s high-water season peaked with an 11-foot-8-inch tide.
A group of painters, dancers and sculptors waded through the shin-high tidal flood waters of Portland’s waterfront after midnight Tuesday to highlight fair-weather sea level rise and the need to document climate change impacts that happen when most people are sleeping.
The king tide, projected to rise 11 feet, 6 inches, flooded the wharves, piers and parking lots along Commercial Street early Wednesday. Garbage truck drivers dodged puddles. Bar workers waded out to parked cars. And in certain areas, artists and citizen scientists found inspiration.
“I grew up in Camp Ellis and literally watched a house that my grandfather built get washed away, so I know the threat is real, but art speaks to me in a way that other things don’t,” said Laura Baker, a Portland nurse who came to the walk after her shift ended. “It helps me find hope in the scary.”
The part-science, part-art event by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute was organized by community science fellow Evan Paris to help people explore their emotional response to climate change while publicizing the difficulty of documenting the effects of climate change that no one can see.
A fast-warming Gulf of Maine is rising faster than ever
“We are at the peak of the spring high-water season, but all the flooding is happening very late, when no one is awake to observe it or collect data about it,” Paris said. “People need to know it’s still happening. I thought this would shine a light on midnight flooding in a really powerful way.”
The performance artists in Judith Greene Janse’s piece, “Nothing Has Changed,” channeled a family struggling to cook, clean and stay dry as the rising sea water overtakes their metal frame home in high water pooling near Luke’s Lobster on Portland Pier just before midnight on Tuesday.
“It is impossible to not be aware at some level that the environment that we always taken for granted is no longer granted to us nor or descendants, but yet we carry on,” Greene Janse, a painter, wrote in her artist statement about the piece. “Everything has changed and Nothing has changed.”
Imposing steel-frame kelp structures by Portland sculptor Ian Ellis line a water-logged guardrail on Widgery Wharf. Just before 1 a.m., the spring tide is still rising. By morning, Ellis’ sculptures will be gone, but real seaweed carried in by the flood waters will remain on the lower parking lot.
“This is a way to draw attention to the rising sea levels that we are all facing and a way to engage with the local community and get people interested in taking action,” Ellis said. “What action? I guess it depends on the person. Protect the shore, protect ourselves, stop making things worse.”
Two dancers wearing fabric seaweed costumes made out of frayed abandoned fishing rope danced at the water’s edge at Portland Pier, Widgery Wharf and GMRI’s own oft-flooded backyard. Wooden sculptures of fishermen, fish and flowers were installed in the flood-prone places, photographed, then taken down.
“As a citizen scientist, you have to be there when it’s flooding to collect the data,” Paris told members of the after-hours climate art walk. “Like these flood waters, this art is only up for tonight. Sometimes, you just have to be there, whether it’s to do the science or do the art.”
GMRI operates a coastal flooding project that teaches non-scientists how to collect weather and water conditions during king tides and storms to identify local high-risk flooding areas,guide policy decisions and build community resilience, said program manager Gayle Bowness.
People are more likely to take action when they witness climate change happening, Bowness said. The 2024 winter storms were a wake-up call for many Mainers, she said. Storms like those will only get worse due as our seas rise, she said, expanding due to rising temperatures and melting sea ice.
Looming flood threat: Maine coastal infrastructure at risk as soon as 2030
While this art walk had a hyper-local focus, sea level rise haunts most of the Maine coast, which is why GMRI trains people to collect local flooding data throughout the state’s coastal communities. Maine sea levels are projected to rise between 1.1 and 3.2 feet by 2050 and 3and 9.3 feet by 2100.
Gulf of Maine sea levels are projected to rise faster than the global average because it is susceptible to changes in the Gulf Stream and seasonal wind patterns, according to the Island Institute, a Rockland-based nonprofit advocacy and research group that serves Maine’s coastal and island communities.
Portland exhibit, presentation will explore climate change through art
The Union of Maine Visual Artists is presenting “Washed Away,” an exhibition of work by 60 artists exploring personal and environmental transformation in a time of rapid change. This exhibit will be on view at the Portland Public Library until June 21.
In connection with the exhibit, Gayle Bowness and Evan Paris from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute will be at the library on June 12 at 5:30 p.m. to lead a presentation titled“Coastal Flooding: Understanding Local Impacts through Science and Art.” They will discuss the science behind sea level rise, projections for Maine, and the local impacts of tidal and storm-related flooding. This event is free and open to the public.”
Here is a video of the performers putting the house into the flood waters and me filming them while complaining about my leaky boots. I had not worn them in 2 years, now I know why.