Homer environmental artist, basket and story weaver Mavis Muller presents “Remembering: Community Art as Healing Force” at 6 p.m. April 18 at the Pratt Museum. She presents a talk and slideshow of personal reflection of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and of her travels from Alaska to Spain to the Gulf of Mexico with her ongoing project of community interactive, impermanent art. She said the intention of her touring art project is “to remember, to learn, and to creatively merge communities as we continue to heal the multiple fractures left in the wake of a traumatic oil spill.”

“My hope is that I may inspire by example how powerful our art can be in connecting communities that are separated by distance, disparate and incomparable, but have something significant in common: a devastating oil spill,” Muller said.

In addition to her talk, Muller will present a series of six large banners that she painted in 1989 after the Exxon oil spill. The banners have appeared in numerous demonstrations in and outside of Alaska. One of her banners has been exhibited in contemporary art museums in New York; Sydney, Australia; and Vigo, Spain. 

“I’m quite amazed at how these old banners are still telling their story 25 years later, and, sadly, that their painted messages are still relevant and current,” Muller said.