An opening reception for the exhibit “Climate Catastrophes” by Kathy Klein of Gloucester will be held from 6-8 p.m. on First Friday, Jan. 5, at Arts on Main in Gloucester. It is free and open to the public.

In a collection of abstract paintings, Klein explores the often-terrifying moments when nature unleashes an attack on us, said a press release, “an attack which we are powerless to halt.”

Whether the subject is fires in California, where her family members live, or hurricanes that come up the coast to swirl around Gloucester, Klein “presents the impact of the natural world gone wild,” said the release.

Klein’s paintings imagine the impact of floods and drought and mingle “paintings of the glaciers and ice ledges of Antarctica with those of flooded fields and grains of sand, the roar of fires, and the winds to evoke the wonder and danger of nature.”

Klein said her mixed-media paintings, which range in size from 6”x6” to 36”x48,” are evocative rather than naturalistic, sa...