ORONO – The annual University of Maine Art Department faculty exhibition is displayed in the Carnegie Hall galleries and showcases some of the favorite works by 17 of the department’s professors and lecturers.

The exhibit opened Nov. 4 and runs through Friday, Dec. 2. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

For friends, colleagues and students, the annual exhibit is an opportunity to see the work of art department faculty members, most of whom are working artists showing their work across the country and, in some cases, across the globe.

Also, said department chair James Linehan, who has four pieces in the show, “the annual faculty show is to keep people posted on what we’re up to. If people have been coming to the annual faculty shows, they’ll see some changes” in motif and materials.

The work includes photography, painting, ceramics, mixed media, fabric, drawing, wood sculpture and new media.

While Linehan said there is no concerted theme to this year’s art show, nature and natural environments are solidly represented in a majority of works, including Andy Mauery’s depiction of wild birds with free-flowing nesting materials sewn into the carpet wall coverings of the galleries; painted landscapes by Alan Stubbs, Michael Lewis, Nina Jerome; and photographs by Judith Sasso Mason, Susan Camp and Michael Grillo. Raphael Diluzio, an associate professor of new media, and Owen Smith use new media to express themselves.

Other artists whose work is part of the faculty exhibit include Ed Nadeau, Wayne Hall, MaJo Keleshian, Dennis Harrington, Constant Albertson, John Eden and Gay Kempton.

Carnegie Galleries are open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.