Ocean Forests: Our Coastal Communities

Richard Salas, Eliot Spaulding, Laura Simonato, & Angelina LaPointe

January 24, 2026 - July 20, 2026

*IMAGES (LEFT TO RIGHT): Richard Salas, Eliot Spaulding, Angelina LaPointe, Laura Simonato*

The California Nature Art Museum is delighted to share our forthcoming group exhibition Ocean Forests: Our Coastal Communities, celebrating the importance of kelp forests - one of California’s most ecologically productive and diverse ecosystems.

Giant kelp is the largest marine plant on earth, with each stalk growing up to 120 ft in length and weighing up to 700 lbs. With its ten-year lifespan, giant kelp is also one of the most ecologically productive organisms in the world, sequestering and removing at least 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

This show will include four celebrated artists and three different mediums - photography, block printing, and textile/weaving. Each artist tells their own unique story about the vibrancy and importance of life amongst giant kelp for the purpose of education, inspiration, and ocean advocacy.

About the Artists

Richard Salas

Richard Salas (askphotography.com) is a California native and graduate from Brooks Institute of Photography, where he was mentored by Ernest Brooks II and first introduced to diving and underwater photography. He has authored several coffee table books, including Sea of Light: Underwater Photography of California’s Channel Islands, Blue Visions: Underwater Photography from the Mexico to the Equator, and Luminous Sea: Underwater Photography from Washington to Alaska. Richard’s mission is to take the viewer through a marine biosphere where humanity’s impact is an undeniable force.

Eliot Spaulding

Eliot Spaulding (@eliot_spaulding) is a Santa Barbara-based multidisciplinary visual artist with a focus on sustainability, craft, and conservation. A gleaner and naturalist, she frequents the ocean and mountain landscapes around her where she studies the geology and flora, and collects cast-off natural materials, and human-generated debris. She finds working with found materials provides a welcome challenge, and compliments her collecting and cataloging tendencies. Using these gathered materials, Eliot aims to reflect impressions of place, often highlighting evidence of human participation in vulnerable ecosystems..

Laura Simonato

Laura Simonato (@thetidepooler) is a macro photographer and citizen scientist based in San Diego, California. When she's not wading through kelp with her camera, Laura runs the tidepooler®, a small business where she creates interactive posters showcasing her favorite sea creatures, nudibranchs. Through her photography, artwork, and storytelling, she hopes to spark curiosity and raise awareness about an often-overlooked world revealed at low tide.

Angelina LaPointe

Photo by Max Janatsch

Angelina LaPointe is a Lompoc, California-based artist who specializes in block and letterpress printing. The founder of Sidecar Press, her vibrant, striking prints range from pinups and portraiture to her native Central Coast’s flora and fauna, as well as invitations, album art, company logos, and more. LaPointe’s work also revolves around the tension that arises from contrast — not only in the black and white of the medium, but in the use of turn-of-the-century technology in our modern world.