Artist Lois Dodd in her Cushing, Maine studio.

Nightfall is a universal experience, an inevitable marker of time, yet constantly changing. What does it mean to paint it? Nationally-renowned artist Lois Dodd (born 1927) will speak on this topic in conjunction with Night Vision on September 3. Dodd, who is based in New York but has worked in Maine since the early 1950s, is a standout as a painter who remained committed to figuration in the heyday of Abstract Expressionism. As the only female founding member of the Tanager Gallery (1952) in New York’s 10th Street artist co-op scene, Dodd is a formidable presence in postwar American art. Maine provides the commonplace scenery that she paints so vividly, yet with great economy — in sharp distinction from the action painting of her generation. But Dodd has always been deeply committed to change, approaching it from a more methodical perspective: “I work best going back to the same places. I change, they change, or the weather changes.” Dodd began painting the night in the early 1970s, partly because she realized that “there were fewer mosquitos at that time.” Join Dodd in conversation with Night Vision curator Joachim Homann at Kresge Auditorium on September 3.