Gayle Bowness, Gulf of Maine Research Institute

“Participating in this project with such an amazing group of professionals and humans from diverse walks of life also brought new perspectives and I was able to see in the art the stories that can be told about resilience - economic, environmental, and social - and how they’re all connected in the place, time, and people captured in the art.”

“I've visited the Portland Museum of Art several times prior to this project, but through this project, to be there in the hours of the morning before the museum was opened to the public was such a different experience,” Gayle Bowness of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute tells us. “The halls are quiet, the air is still, and I was able to experience the art instead of just seeing it.”

Gayle Bowness manages the Municipal Climate Action Program through the Climate Center at Gulf of Maine Research Institute. GMRI engages coastal communities in better understanding local sea level rise impacts and provides them with knowledge, skills, and tools to develop community-focused and data-driven resilience plans for coastal flooding. Bowness’ passion to meld science and education was at the forefront for her role in Passages in American Art.