What do we make lists of? We make regular old to-do lists, like stuff to get at the grocery store, or the hardware store. Invitation lists for parties. Things to finish on the house before winter. Life goals before the age of 30, or 40, or 60. Potential names for the baby. Best movies of all time. We make lists of lots of things.

How we turn our lists from “to-do” to “done” is what interests printmaker and collaborative artist Adriane Herman, a professor at Maine College of Art. A few years ago, she began collecting lists from friends and strangers alike – one snagged from a neighbor’s yard sale here, one given to her by a student there.

“How do you translate from intention into action? It’s an almost alchemical process,” said Herman. “To-do lists are a great example of that. There’s a definite purpose behind it. It expresses intention. It’s a powerful tool.”

Eventually, the archiving became more than just an interest, and turned into a full-blown community art project, “enlisting” the discarded lists of the people of midcoast Maine, who sent Herman lists by the hundreds. It’s now collected as an exhibition called “Checking it Twice” on display through Dec. 15 at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport.

“Checking it Twice” is made up of three parts. Covering the walls of the main stairwell at CMCA are several hundred of the lists Herman’s collected via self-addressed envelopes distributed throughout midcoast Maine, taped up on a bulletin-boardlike setting.

Hanging in the Loft Gallery are lists reproduced as graphite rubbings, and as large-scale inlaid burnishing panels. The rubbings take just an hour or two, while the panels involve an elaborate process of layering and polishing liquid clay on top of a mold created from a list, with the result looking similar to the color scheme on an ancient Greek urn.

The third part of “Checking It Twice” is the vinyl list decals hanging in the windows in various locations in Waldo and Knox counties, including the Rockland Public Library, Zoot Coffee in Camden and Chase’s Daily in Belfast. Not immediately noticeable at first, the decals suggest the goings-on around them – lists of books at the library, grocery lists at coffee shops.

The lists she has amassed over the years make up an archive of everyday existence. Herman considers herself a kind of archaeologist, or detective. Through the lists she has received, she gets a glimpse into the daily lives of strangers.

“I feel like a detective, sleuthing out how people live life. Something so common and habitual as making a list seems mundane to the person making it, but it can be very helpful and informative to someone else,” said Herman, 41, a South Portland resident. “People have figured out structures on how to live. They have systems of information, and prioritization. The lists don’t look like a laborious effort, but then you have a list that says things like ‘create community,’ or ‘pack for Iraq again.’ Those aren’t simple things at all.”

The area where art and everyday life intersect is where Herman finds herself working time and again. Slop Art, the collective run by Herman and her partner, Brian Reeves, has produced smart, funny pieces for the past 10 years, such as the Slop Art Supermarket, a contemporary art catalog disguised as an advertising insert, which actually appeared in newspapers across the country.

On her own, Herman has been involved in community art before, as in Kansas City, where she made her home before moving to Maine in 2001. A strategically placed machine within the city contained not newspapers, but a free-for-the-taking sheet of lickable stamps, bearing images of fine art.

“I like inserting art into spaces where you don’t expect it,” said Herman. “I think you’re more receptive when it’s not presented as art.”

Herman seems to be a fan of democratically distributed public art – with the “Enlist Your Lists” envelopes in midcoast Maine, contributors receive a free temporary tattoo of one of her graphite rubbings, in exchange for sending the artist a list.

“With the envelopes, it’s like a barter system,” she said. “You get these limited edition temporary tattoos, but then you send me something back.”

Looking at all the lists, one gets a sense of the inner workings of the individual list-makers’ mind – from orderly, bulleted lists planning for weddings and funerals, written on nice stationery, to haphazard scrawls on receipts or notebook paper. What was the person who made that list thinking? Did they finish what they planned to do?

“It’s not really voyeurism. It’s just intimacy,” said Herman. “It’s anonymous, but it’s intimate. It’s evidence of life.”

“Checking It Twice” will be on display at CMCA through Dec. 15; list submissions will be accepted through that time. “Enlist Your Lists” envelopes can be picked up at CMCA or at any of the public locations where Herman’s decals are on display; you can mail a list to Adriane Herman, c/o Center for Maine Contemporary Art, P.O. Box 147, Rockport 04856. For more information, visit www.cmcanow.org. Adriane Herman’s Web site is www.slopart.com. Emily Burnham can be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.