Displaying graphically compelling and texturally intricate wall sculptures, the exhibit will span the artist’s work from 1980 to the present.

“Hemenway’s work features a variety of colors, textures and themes inspired by Maine’s rugged topography, events and phenomena frozen in memory, as well as a lifelong engagement with art,” said Anthony Shostak, education coordinator of the Bates Museum of Art.

Born in Boothbay Harbor in 1920, Hemenway has lived abroad in Europe, Central and South America and Africa. She studied music at Wheaton College and Harvard University before turning her talents to the visual arts.

As a sculptor, Hemenway has earned several distinguished honors, including a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship to South Africa and a doctor of fine arts degree from Wheaton.

She has exhibited her work at institutions such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the National Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

The exhibition will remain on view at Bates through Aug. 16. Regular hours at the Bates College Museum of Art are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m., Sunday, with additional hours often scheduled on the evening of concerts and other special events at the Olin Arts Center. The galleries are closed Mondays, major holidays and during the installation of exhibitions. Admission is free.

Schools and other groups are welcome, and tours are given by appointment. For more information, contact the museum at 207-786-6158.

Sponsored by the Maine Association of Museums, more than 30 museums and historical societies throughout the state will showcase the diversity of their collections by offering free or discounted admission. In addition, certain sites will feature special events to mark the occasion, including exhibit previews, guided tours, films and presentations.

Anthony Shostak, education coordinator of the Bates College Museum of Art, will lead two tours of the museum’s summer exhibit, Embroidered Wall Sculptures by Nancy Hemenway and works from the permanent collection beginning at 11 a.m. and noon.

The Bates Museum of Art, along with the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, is one of the two largest art museums to participate in the statewide event, chaired this year by Shostak.

“Maine Museum Day is meant to foster the public’s awareness of the diverse offering of the state’s museums, from Kennebunkport to Vinalhaven, and to the vast interior,” Shostak said.

For further information about participating institutions, call the Bates College Museum of Art at 207-786-6158.