Five museums across Maine are simultaneously presenting exhibitions featuring the work of painters Nicole Wittenberg and Ann Craven, in a coordinated initiative titled "Women on the Verge." The participating institutions include the Portland Museum of Art, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland, the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. Each venue is showing a distinct body of work by either Wittenberg or Craven, highlighting their vibrant, often nature-inspired paintings that explore themes of femininity, perception, and the natural world.
This multi-museum collaboration matters because it offers an unprecedented, statewide focus on two living female artists, amplifying their visibility and challenging the historical underrepresentation of women in museum exhibitions. By coordinating programming across five major institutions, the initiative creates a cohesive narrative around Wittenberg and Craven's practices, encouraging audiences to engage with their work in depth across different contexts. It also serves as a model for how museums can pool resources and audiences to support contemporary artists in a meaningful, sustained way.