Salish Explorations Opens at Flagship Gallery

The Salish Explorations exhibit at the Flagships Gallery features watercolor field paintings by Maria Coryell-Martin from May 1 through July 31. The exhibit invites visitors to explore light, atmosphere, and the changing marine landscape through immersive field-based watercolor work. Maria’s artwork was inspired primarily from aboard on the Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry in fall 2025, and at Fort Worden through Centrum in spring 2026. 

Maria presents watercolor field studies created in direct response to landscape and weather, using ink and watercolor to build what she describes as a “palette of place” that uses a vocabulary of color, climate, and story. Maria explains, “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, all shape the work. This fieldwork becomes the foundation for larger studio paintings and an opportunity to revisit and refine what was captured in the moment.”

The exhibit reflects on the experience of observing and recording the natural world in real time, offering viewers a chance to consider the marine environment of the Salish Sea through an intimate, observational lens. Maria hopes the work inspires audiences 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.

After graduating from Carleton College in 2004, Maria received a Watson Fellowship to explore remote landscapes through art, an experience that launched her career in expeditionary field practice focused on polar and glacier science and environmental awareness. Her travels have taken her to some of the world’s most remote environments, where she has encountered polar bears, leopard seals, emperor penguins, and narwhals.

Located at 1001 Water St., Port Townsend, WA, the gallery at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center Flagship is open Thursday through Sunday, noon - 3 p.m. Admission is free and donations are welcome. For more information about the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, please visit ptmsc.org.