FARMINGTON — A vibrant solo exhibit by visual artist Hélène Farrar launches the University of Maine at Farmington Emery Community Arts Center’s spring schedule.

The show, “What We Carry,” runs from Jan. 17 to March 19. There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Farrar’s exhibit shows humans are more complicated than they think they are. They’re even more complicated than the stories they tell. They can’t see that someone next to them might be carrying with them an entire room or an elephant-sized amount of trauma, an isolating living situation or viewpoint, anger, a deep (dis)connection to others, and a personal or familial history of significance.

But revealing or attempting to engage with others about the depth of human nature collectively and individually can place humans into vulnerability. Through layers of mark, textures, patterns, humor and “stuff,” these works hope to begin a conversation about humans’ duality while also exploring larger themes including migration, human relationships, differences in perspective, political and social climate and personal search.

The exhibit consists of over 20 paintings in encaustic and sculptures, including a 3-by 6-foot carved wooden elephant. Heat is used throughout the encaustic process, from melting the beeswax and varnish to fusing the layers of wax. The medium can be used alone for its transparency or adhesive qualities or used pigmented.

Farmington native Farrar teaches and makes her work in Manchester. Both her mother, also an artist, and her stepfather taught at UMF.

“Having my first Farmington exhibit at UMF’s Emery Community Arts Center is incredibly emotional for me,” said Farrar. “It feels very much like coming home.”

An artist and art educator, she has taught and worked in the visual arts for 20 years while actively teaching and exhibiting in commercial, nonprofit and universities in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Italy and England. Farrar was most recently featured in a summer exhibition “Vision + Verse” curated by Anne Zills at the University of New England.

Her paintings have been accepted into curated exhibits at the Creative Arts Workshop of New Haven, the Saco Museum, the University of New England and Twiggs Gallery in New Hampshire. Farrar is represented by the Stable Gallery in Damariscotta, Archipelago Fine Arts in Rockland, the Eastport Breakwater Gallery and the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner.

Farrar has a Bachelor of Arts in studio art from the University of Maine and a Master of Fine Arts degree in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College in Vermont.

She owns and operates her own private art school in Maine out of her farmhouse studio, where she holds varied workshops and classes. She loves people, dogs, culture, music, podcasts and birds. She can be often found enjoying the Maine outdoors skiing, biking, or walking her dog. She lives and works in Manchester with her 10-year-old daughter Olympia, engineer husband, Stan, and dog Buddy.