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Biddeford, Maine
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Alan Bennett

Community climate collaging exhibit brings visions of Biddeford, Saco residents to UNE Campus Center

Collages hang on the walls of the UNE Campus Center
The exhibit features artwork created by local residents during a series of workshops facilitated this spring by UNE faculty and undergraduate students.
Opening Reception Information

An exhibit showcasing how residents of Biddeford and Saco envision the future of their communities in a changing climate is now on display at the University of New England Campus Center on the Biddeford Campus.

“Envisioning Climate Futures through Community Collaging Workshops” features artwork created by local residents during a series of workshops facilitated this spring by UNE faculty and undergraduate students. 

The exhibit will remain on view through Sept. 30. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held at the Campus Center on Thursday, Sept. 10, from 5 to 6:30 p.m.

The project brought together art and social science to explore how creative expression can help people reflect on their experiences with climate change, articulate what they value about the places they live, and imagine how their communities might respond to environmental change.

Jennifer Brousseau, Ph.D., assistant professor in the School of Marine and Environmental Programs, and Sarah Gorham, M.F.A., M.A.T., assistant academic director and teaching professor in the School of Arts and Humanities, developed the project with undergraduate environmental science students Elizabeth Erskine (’27) and Allie Morse, B.S. ’26, who graduated in May. 

During workshops held in March and April, the team invited community members from Biddeford and Saco to create individual and collaborative collages depicting their experiences with climate change and their hopes for the future. Participants reflected on what they value in their neighborhoods and identified potential climate initiatives they would like to see adopted.

“Even though these workshops were not long, our team found that participants really valued the opportunities to share their climate concerns and visions with like-minded individuals,” Brousseau said. “We observed this small sense of community that was created by bringing people together, and we appreciated the opportunity to connect with community members in Biddeford and Saco.”

The workshops were part of an undergraduate research project supported by UNE’s Mini-Grant Program and provided Morse and Erskine with two years of experience helping design, facilitate, and assess the community-based research.

Brousseau said she was particularly impressed by the responsibility and ownership the students demonstrated throughout the project. She also credited Gorham’s expertise with helping the research team consider how art could facilitate conversations around climate change, creating an interdisciplinary collaboration that brought together perspectives from environmental studies and the humanities.

The Campus Center installation marks the latest public display of the project. The collages were featured earlier this summer as part of “Sensing the Coast: An Art-Science Collaboration,” a public exhibition in downtown Biddeford that combined visual art, photography, sound, community storytelling, and scientific research to explore Maine’s changing coastline.

Local artist and community member Diane Noble also supported the collaging workshops, helping the team develop ideas for the sessions, engage local residents, and ultimately bring the completed work to the Campus Center for display.

For Brousseau, the project demonstrated the value of creating opportunities for faculty, students, and neighbors to learn from one another while exploring challenges that affect the places they share.

“I am hopeful that this work being displayed in the Campus Center will enhance awareness about the concerns and priorities of local residents when it comes to the future of their communities,” Brousseau said.

The UNE Campus Center is located at 11 Hills Beach Road in Biddeford. The exhibit is open through Sept. 30 during Campus Center hours, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.

Collages hang on the walls of the UNE Campus Center

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study-abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible online offerings. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. We are the state’s top provider of health professionals and home to Maine’s only medical and dental colleges, physician assistant program, and pharmacy school, in addition to a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care programs and nationally recognized programs in the marine sciences, the natural and social sciences, business, the humanities, and the arts.