LEWISTON — More than 80 works by 53 artists will be shown at Atrium Art Gallery in a statewide juried exhibition exclusively focused on work created in the environment of a life-drawing group.

“The Figure Revealed IV” exhibition, featuring artwork in media ranging from pencil and charcoal to oil and watercolor, will open Friday, Nov. 9, with a free reception from 6 to 8 p.m.

Drawing groups exist around the state, somewhat in isolation. They usually meet once a week for the purpose of drawing, painting, or sculpting with a live model.

“Since most of the work is not intended for exhibition but as practice, we have an opportunity to enter the private world of artist and model, and to better understand the tradition they continue — a tradition that began in Europe during the 15th century,” exhibit curator Robyn Holman said.

Naturalist and Peter Steinhart, author of “The Undressed Art: Why We Draw,” received national acclaim for his insight into the expressive nature of drawing and the innate and human impulse to draw what we see. In his essay for the Atrium Art Gallery’s “The Figure Revealed II” (2005), he describes drawing groups as “deliciously democratic institutions, with professional artists working alongside wincing amateurs and 80-year-old matrons working alongside tattooed teenagers, all together searching for what makes us human.”

Artists showing works in “The Figure Revealed IV” are Lois Anne, Donna Asquith, Olena Babak, Nancy Morgan Barnes, Jane Banquer, Stephanie Berry, Todd Bezold, Martha Bovie, John Bowdren, Martha Briana, Bruce Bulger, Anita Clearfield, Charles Cramer, Paula Dougherty, Laurie Downey, Liz Evans, Keith Eveland, Michael Fletcher, Roberta Goschke, Stevan Hall and Hara Harding.

Also: DeWitt Hardy, Pat Hardy, Simon Harling, Paul Heroux, Michael Heskanen, Richard Jacobs, Matthew Kelley, Joe Klofas, Bonnie Lashin, Janet Ledoux, Eric Legassie, Diane Lent, Margaret Leonard, Robert MacLeod, Janet Conlon Manyan, Mark A. Mellor, Lou Kohl Morgan, Molly O’Rourke and Carole Palmer.

And: Pierre Patenaude, Wendy Newbold Patterson, Lincoln Perry, June Roberts, Delores Rollins, Kathleen Rummler, Sandra Stanton, Sharon Townshend, Michael Walek, Cornelia Walworth, Noel Watson, Richard Winslow and Edward Zelinsky.

Jurors were Joel Babb, one of Maine’s most-noted representational painters, and James Strickland of Belfast, an artist, theologian, heliocentric and kinetic sculptor, and philosopher.

Babb is known for his large street-level views of historic city districts, cityscapes from an aerial perspective and woodland landscapes inspired by his home in Sumner. Strickland’s studies of architecture, Japanese temples, ocean navigating, mountaineering and technology illuminate his work. 

Elizabeth W. Garber of Belfast, one of Maine’s better known poets, wrote a poem exclusively for the exhibit. Her poems have been read on National Public Radio’s “The Writer’s Almanac” and were included Garrison Keillor’s 2005 anthology, “Good Poems for Hard Times.”

“The Figure Revealed IV” will be on view through Dec. 14. The Atrium Art Gallery is at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn campus, 51 Westminster St. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. For more information, call 753-6554 or email holman@usm.maine.edu. The exhibit website is www.usm.maine.edu/atriumgallery.

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