The Marine Science Center has a lot going on in downtown Port Townsend!
At Flagship Landing, 1001 Water St., you’ll find our Gallery as well as the Store. And just a block away you can visit the Whale on the Wharf, a fully articulated, 42′ gray whale skeleton!
Location
The Gallery is located in the historic Flagship Landing building, at 1001 Water St., in downtown Port Townsend.
Hours
Friday – Sunday
12 – 3 p.m.
First Saturday Gallery Walks
Gallery is open 5 – 8 p.m. on the First Saturday of each month.
Admission
The Gallery is free. Donations are always appreciated.
Being on the Wing
Combining the bird photography of Mike Kalichman
and the words of Nicholas England
September 18 – November 29, 2026
Friday – Sunday
12 – 3 p.m.
Exhibit admission is free; donations are welcome.
These photos and words are the product of a five-day trip taken by Nicholas England and Mike Kalichman in September of 2025. They visited parts of Seattle, the Skagit River, Fidalgo Island, and Lopez Island. We share here some of what they found. Like much of the work done at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, this project inspires us to look more closely at this remarkable Salish Sea, including the birds we might only have seen in passing or at a distance. Nicholas and Mike especially reflect on similarities and differences between human intelligence and that of the birds sharing this planet with us. Perhaps this exhibit will do something similar for you.
Visitors will be able to add and share their reflections as prompted by the exhibit content.
Join us for “Birding Through The Lens: Guided Bird Photography Walks” – two sessions on Wednesday, October 7th!
Details here
Past exhibits
Salish Explorations
Exploring light and atmosphere through watercolor field paintings by Maria Coryell-Martin
May 1 – September 6, 2026
Artist Statement
In the field, I sketch with ink and watercolor to build a “palette of place,” a vocabulary of color, climate, and stories. There’s an immediacy and urgency to field sketching that I love: the broad brushstrokes, the rain sometimes falling on my paper, and the distillation of the landscape’s essential elements through watercolor. In turn, this fieldwork becomes the basis for larger studio paintings and a chance to revisit and refine my vision as it was captured in the moment.
I hope my exhibit inspires you to cultivate a deeper appreciation for our changing marine landscape, to see the familiar in a new light, and to seek adventures close to home.
Artist Bio
Maria Coryell-Martin is an expeditionary artist, continuing the tradition of traveling artists as naturalists and educators. Upon graduating from Carleton College in 2004, she embarked on a year-long Watson Fellowship to explore remote landscapes through art. This experience sparked a resolve to continue working as an expeditionary artist, focusing on polar and glacier science, and to inspire environmental awareness in audiences of all ages. Maria’s travels have brought her face-to-face with polar bears, leopard seals, emperor penguins, and narwhals.
Inspired by her experiences making art in rugged, remote areas, Maria developed her own expedition-ready tools for sketching and painting and shares them with the world at arttoolkit.com
Learn more about Maria at expeditionaryart.com.
Bull Kelp: Our Remarkable Underwater Forests
February 13, 2026 – April 19, 2026
This family-friendly traveling exhibit explores the vital worlds of kelp forests just off our shores, highlighting the beauty and critical importance of this ecosystem in the Salish Sea.
This is a combination 3D experience of a bull kelp forest and its creatures, with 7 illustrated interpretive panels, video and sound. The exhibit is suitable for all ages.
Imagine yourself immersed in the fascinating world of a bull kelp forest inhabited by rockfish, anemones, sea stars, and urchins, where harbor seals, orcas, salmon and tufted puffins come to visit, and many other species thrive. This family-friendly 3D exhibit will inspire you to think about the complex structure of this vital nearshore environment and what we need to do to keep our kelp forests healthy for all of us.
Here you can pretend you’re underwater, face to face with all the stunning creatures living in these waters! Learn about the crucial role kelp forests play in our ecosystem, and what actions you can take to help our kelp!
Original mural artwork by Timbul Cahyono.
3D creatures crafted by Mariah Vane.
Andrew Whiteman developed and designed this exhibit.
This exhibit is funded in part by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
We also credit Puget Sound Restoration Fund for generous use of assets.
Under the Surface of the Salish Sea
November 7, 2025 – February 8, 2026
PTMSC is proud to host a new exhibit at our downtown Flagship Landing Gallery. “Under the Surface of the Salish Sea” showcases a selection of fiber and textile works inspired by life beneath the waves. Each work is created by a member of Peninsula Fiber Artists, and reflects a unique connection to the local marine environment. The exhibit features two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces, using a variety of materials and techniques that highlight the artistry and creativity of their makers.
Works will be available for purchase, with a portion of the sales benefitting conservation programs at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
For more information about the Peninsula Fiber Artists, visit here.
The Nature Journals of Carolyn Woods
July 18 – November 2, 2025
As the Education Manager, Carolyn enjoys sharing her passion for conserving the Salish Sea with students through school programs and summer camps at PTMSC. She enjoys connecting youth and adults with the wonders of the natural world and uses art as a teaching tool whenever possible. Her favorite part of the job is being a witness to discoveries and connections made by students in the marine environment.
Carolyn has worked at Port Townsend Marine Science Center in various roles since 2014, including serving as a Marine Mammal Stranding Network intern and a term as an AmeriCorps member. She holds a BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from the University of Washington and has also served at the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge as a Visitor Services and Education intern. When she’s not at PTMSC, Carolyn may be painting, hiking, rollerskating, birding, listening to music or some combination thereof.
Why nature journaling?
Carolyn Woods: I’ve been drawing, painting, and scribbling my entire life, and I’ve always been drawn to subjects in nature - plants, animals, landscapes. But it was an internship at a wildlife refuge in the San Francisco Bay ten years ago and then working at PTMSC as an environmental educator that helped inspire me to take up nature journaling. I was in landscapes that were new to me, and seeing animals and other living things in a new way as I was preparing to teach other people about them. I found myself wanting to explore them artistically to deepen my understanding of things like identifying marks and features for shells, wing feather patterns, and kelp branching structures.
Spending more time drawing in the field also had practical considerations - I needed more convenient and portable tools than what I’d been used to using at home or in art classrooms. These things overlapped and I came across the work of John Muir Laws - wonderfully illustrated field guides for the new birds I was seeing in California, and his blog posts at the time about creating a DIY portable watercolor palette from an old mint tin and gum wrappers. This got me hooked on painting outdoors and I’ve been doing it ever since - with a few upgrades along the way (Art Toolkit).
ORCA: Shared Waters, Shared Home
“ORCA: Shared Waters, Shared Home” was an interactive exhibit exploring the natural history of the orca species and the extreme challenges facing the Southern Resident orca families that frequent Puget Sound.
Based on the book of the same name co-published by The Seattle Times and nonprofit publisher Braided River, the special showing featured captivating photography by Steve Ringman and others, and stories by author and Seattle Times journalist Lynda V. Mapes about the power, majesty and plight of two endangered – and intertwined – species of the Salish Sea: Southern Resident killer whales and Chinook salmon.
The exhibit was designed for all ages. For children there’s a drawing and coloring table, children’s books about orcas, and a dorsal fin to measure one’s relative height. While the children are engaged, parents can review the display panels and read newspaper reprints and excerpts from Mape’s book.
The exhibit was augmented with fascinating video of orcas in the Salish Sea provided by Cindy Hansen of Orca Network. A kiosk provided access to information from orcasound.net.
This exhibit was produced by Braided River, The Seattle Times, and Studio To Be. It was designed by Andrew Whiteman and Braided River, and based upon the book “Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home”, written by Seattle Times journalist Lynda V. Mapes and published by Braided River in partnership with The Seattle Times. The exhibit reflects our shared mission: to strengthen education, stewardship, and advocacy for our local waters.
Aves: Photographs of Birds
March 14 – June 8, 2025
PTMSC is thrilled to be able to share Kerry Tremain’s work in our gallery. Kerry’s photographs in Aves demonstrate the close, patient observation of the natural world that is required to capture a moment of a bird’s life. His images are also detailed records of birds we may have seen, but never quite as beautifully as he saw them with his camera.
This show provides an ideal opportunity for PTMSC to connect visitors to the natural world, to see life in a new way.
Kerry Tremain has worked in publishing and the arts as a writer, photographer, editor, art director, and curator. He served as Creative Director and Executive Editor of Mother Jones and as Editor-in-Chief of California magazine. He was a founder and executive director of the Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography, chaired by Sebastaio Salgado, and curated related exhibitions at major venues in the U.S., Mexico, and France.
His books include “Yosemite: A Storied Landscape”, based on an exhibition at the California Historical Society that he initiated and co-curated, “Russians in California”, “Year of the Birds”, and “Aves”. He has written on photography and art for books, including “Wayne F. Miller: Photographs 1942-1968”, “Witness in Our Time”, and “Linda Okazaki: Into the Light”, the catalog for her recent retrospective exhibit at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. He has also written for publications such as American Art Review, Smithsonian, San Francisco, and the Vancouver Sun. In the past five years, his photographs have been in multiple group and two solo exhibitions. Kerry lives in Port Townsend with his wife, fiber artist Barbara Ramsey. He is President Emeritus of Northwind Art and Port Townsend School of the Arts.
Find more on Kerry Tremain’s website, kerrytremain.com.
Inspired by Sea & Science: The Fiber Art of Carla Stehr
November 2024 – February 2025
Carla grew up in Olympia, exploring Puget Sound beaches and looking for ‘cool’ things like shells with delicate patterns. Her obsession with intertidal life motivated her to become a marine biologist, where her scientific work included studying fish and plankton with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The remarkable microscopic patterns she saw inspired her to explore art. Meanwhile, making a traditional quilt led her to discover that fabric could be assembled in amazing ways and a sewing machine could be used to draw. Stitch, fabric, dye, and paint became her favorite art materials.
Carla’s SEM photographs have been published and exhibited in scientific and educational venues. Her fiber art has been juried into several national and international exhibits. Carla retired from science but continues to combine her scientific background and fascination for natural patterns in her art, much of which is based on her SEM photographs. Other works are similarly inspired by the colors and textures of marine life often not easily seen. Carla’s work reminds us to look for and savor Salish Sea details.
Repair It!
April – July 2024
A workspace and exhibit exploring the lost art of Repair.
Learn about the global movement to help transform our throwaway culture and how PTMSC’s JeffCo Repair can help build your skills, strengthen community, save money, keep our excess of material goods out of landfills and oceans, and more.
The exhibit/workspace was developed to showcase the work of JeffCo Repair and the many local volunteers committed to Protecting our Seas, Empowering People & Building Community.
The gallery experience includes printed graphics, 3D, and digital information about the Repair Movement, interactive repair activities, and connections to local and national resources. A sneak peak at the JeffCo Repair Tool Library will be on display.
Throughout the run of this exhibit, the gallery will be staffed with volunteers and will occasionally host workshops, classes or other related programs.
JeffCo Repair is part of PTMSC and is made possible through partnerships with Jefferson County Library District and Local 20/20. This material is funded in part through a Public Participation Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Fossil Lab: Our Ancient and Future Salish Sea
November 2023 – March 2024
An interpreted workshop experience highlighting PTMSC’s fossil collections.
Fossil specimens, interpretive panels, and hands-on activities, focusing on the PTMSC’s modest but fascinating fossil collection. The exhibit specimens and text panels are augmented by a work area in the center of the room where volunteers from PTMSC and Quimper Geological Society will share some of the techniques of collections care and what can be learned from looking at fossils.
PTMSC is known in part for its aquarium and natural history exhibits at Fort Worden State Park, but did you also know we have fossils too? Over the decades and through generous donations and loans, we have built and stewarded a modest collection of specimens, replicas, and objects that help us better understand – and be inspired by – the deep history of the Salish Sea region.
