CAMDEN — “The art community is pulling together in a big, beautiful way to bring light to domestic abuse survivors through an Art With Heart Sale benefitting Finding Our Voices,” said Finding Our Voices, in a news release. 

Christine Buckley has set up a rotating exhibit in her Christine's Framing Gallery, in Camden, of framed paintings, drawings, photographs, and prints donated by her artist and art-framing customers. A three day opening reception takes place around Mother’s Day, with the sale continuing throughout the summer. 

Thursday and Friday, May 11 and 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Saturday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the framing shop, refreshments will be served that are yellow (i.e. lemonade, lemon treats) in keeping with the color of the Camden-based and statewide grassroots nonprofit bringing light to domestic abuse and survivors.

The value of the work currently for sale ranges from $100 to $5,000. Buckley is hoping to raise $20,000 for Finding Our Voices in 2023 with this initiative. 

Every penny received from this fundraising event will pay for essential items for Maine victims of domestic violence including shelter, car expenses, storage unit fees and legal consultations, through the group's Get Out Stay Out fund, according to Patrisha McLean, founder and president of Finding Our Voices.

Buckley is one of 45 survivors with their photo portraits taken by McLean on the Finding Our Voices posters and bookmarks. Governor Janet T. Mills is also featured in the survivor-powered outreach, which is the chief way the nonprofit is erasing stigma and shame for victims and alerting the general public to the domestic abuse all around. 

“I was looking for a way to help this amazing organization,” Buckley said. “I frame, that’s what I do. But to raise the most money, I needed something inside the frames. That’s when I turned to my customers to donate the art. Every single person I mentioned it to, artists and art-owners, said “I am IN.”

She said that many customers are bringing in pieces from their personal collection, including vintage watercolors, botanicals and maps. The selection for sale right now includes a painting by Alan Fishman, photograph by Jim Nickelson, and prints by Jamie and Carolyn Wyeth.

Patrisha McLean and Buckley go way back. In late 2018, Buckley was finishing the framing for 14 large photographs of domestic abuse survivors that were making up her groundbreaking exhibit in the Camden Public Library, when McLean asked what she thought of the project.

“That’s when Christine shared that she too was a survivor, and had been terrorized by two boyfriends as well as in her home growing up,” said McLean. “This was just in time for me to take her photo portrait and include her in the February 2019 exhibit that launched Finding Our Voices.

“For this to be coming around to where Christine is using her framing skills and mobilizing the art community to help others get out of what we and far too many other women went through is beautiful indeed.”

Anyone with art to donate, or wanting to buy beautifully framed art to benefit Finding Our Voices, drop by the shop in the Reny’s Shopping Mall in Camden from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, or call 207 505 5173.