New Art Exhibit Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

The Pajaro Valley Arts Council gallery is now awash with aquatic images, thanks to the latest exhibit: Monterey Bay: Land, Air & Sea. 

With work from 52 local artists, the exhibit showcases the beauty of the cherished Monterey Bay, with images from as far south as the Elkhorn Slough all the way north to Davenport. 

Dozens of artists featured in this show were plein air painters, and the other half are an eclectic mix of media, including glass and bronze sculptures, paper art and photography.

The show coincides with the 20th Anniversary of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, although it's really no coincidence at all.

"We worked in conjunction with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and so we got ideas from then about, for instance where to send our plein air painters," said Susan Matulich who curated the show along with Susanna Waddell.

"I'm excited about the show because it's celebrating the Monterey Bay Marine Sancuturay, which is twenty years old, and it's nice to see that there's been changes along those twenty years. The art reflects everything about our area, the nature ,the sea, the birds," said Matulich.

All of the art pieces are breathtaking, and the glass sculptures by Marsha Blaker and Paul DeSomma are particularly unique, depicting kelp, rocks and coral from skillfully melted and colored glass. Just seeing those pieces alone makes the exhibit well worth checking out, but there is so much more to feast your eyes on.

The PVAC is excited to collaborate with Save Our Shores on a project where local school children will make a mosaic out of the plastic pieces collected at the next beach clean up.

"So, you know, we can do some small part to get people to pay attention to our own natural landscape and wildlife around us. Which personally, as a person who lives in Watsonville, I'm really excited about. I like to be out in nature, I like to see that the sloughs are being cleaned up over the years," said Matulich. 

Monterey Bay: Land, Air and Sea can be viewed for free on Thursday and Fridays from 11 a.m. - 4 plm. and Saturday and Sundays from 12 p.m. - 4 p.m. Make sure to mark your calendar for the opening reception, which is Sunday, September 9 from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. and which many of the artists will attend.