Maine MILL announces “Familiar Faces”, a new site-specific installation by Maine-based artist Ian Trask, opening October 21, 2025, timed to commemorate two years since the mass shootings in Lewiston. The work invites collective reflection and remembrance through materials directly connected to that day and the community’s ongoing process of healing.

The exhibit uses bowling balls and pool balls left behind at the shooting sites—objects that bore witness to the events of October 25, 2023. Through a process of drilling, suspending, shattering, repairing, and painting, Trask transformed these familiar materials into quiet, luminous forms that hold both the gravity of trauma and the possibility of renewal.

“Familiar Faces embodies the power of art to hold collective memory and to help us process what words alone cannot,” said Rachel Ferrante, Executive Director. “As a museum rooted in the life and work of this community, Maine MILL is honored to provide a space for reflection, connection, and remembrance.”

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About the Artist

Ian Trask is a sculptor and multimedia artist who transforms waste materials into objects and installations with new purpose and integrity. His immersive works often play with sophisticated patterns, lending unlikely materials exquisite beauty. At other times, he works on an intimate scale with puckish humor. Trask began his career in New York City, where he was a core member of the Invisible Dog Art Center and exhibited at the Spring Break Art Fair, the Figment Festival, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Upon returning to Maine, where he studied biology at Bowdoin College, Trask has exhibited at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, University of New England, University of Maine, and Cove Street Arts. In 2018, he published his first artist book, Strange Histories: A Bizarre Collaboration, and has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Portland Press Herald, Maine Magazine, and Brooklyn Magazine.

Public opening reception: October 21, 2025, 5-7pm at Maine MILL

This exhibition was made possible in part by the Hewnoaks Artist Residency, the Maine Arts Commission Fellowship grant, and the Sewall Foundation.

For more information about Maine MILL and its events and exhibits, visit www.mainemill.org or call 207-333-3881. The museum is located at 35 Canal Street in Lewiston and is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10am – 4pm.