At the Ocean’s Edge, an Artist Asks Us to Look Closer

In “On the Edge of the Pacific,” Monica Loncola brings the life of the Monterey Bay tideline — chitons, kelp holdfasts, urchin shells and more — to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Sept. 16 through Jan. 3

PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. — While meandering along the ocean’s edge, people often step over mussel shells, barnacles, broken crustaceans, bull kelp, seaweed and dozens of formerly living creatures now sharing the tideline with those who walk alongside it.

These are exactly the things Monica Loncola stops to look at.

On Sept. 16, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History opens “On the Edge of the Pacific,” a new body of work by Loncola that draws the eye down to the small, easily missed lives at the water’s edge. Her images invite viewers to pause and take a closer look through her eyes. The exhibition is on view through Jan. 3, 2027.

Loncola is a lifelong artist and observer of the natural world whose work blends science, art, curiosity and memory. In her work, she isolates a single subject — or several subjects linked by a common thread — rendering them as if floating in a quiet, dreamlike state of recollection.

The result blends detailed illustration with Loncola’s stylized approach, influenced by her lifelong attraction to the works of Andrew Wyeth and Winslow Homer. Scientific observation and a painterly approach come together in pieces intended to capture not simply what a subject looks like, but what made Loncola stop and notice it in the first place.

“I feel as if I’m stopped in my tracks by a subconscious familiarity with my subject,” Loncola said. “I want to paint the essence of what made me stop and notice.”

That way of seeing was sharpened later in Loncola’s life when she returned to school and completed her Masters Certification in Science Illustration at CSU Monterey Bay — proof, she says, that it is never too late to pursue a passion.

“It’s never too late to step it up and dive into your passion and share it with the world,” Loncola said.

Her science illustration training gave her the discipline to closely observe and accurately render the natural world while learning digital tools to combine with her fine-art background. The finished works blur the line between fine art and illustration.

A pivotal chapter in the work traces back to the water itself.

After completing an internship with the Western Flyer Foundation as a requirement for her graduate studies, Loncola took part in an April 2025 journey to the Gulf of California commemorating the 85th anniversary of the historic 1940 expedition of author John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts.

Their voyage aboard the fishing vessel Western Flyer became the inspiration for the book Sea of Cortez. Working from field observations, journal sketches and photographs, Loncola developed pieces in her studio that became the inspiration for this ongoing body of work exploring the cycle of life and decay at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

Loncola followed a path that still runs directly through Cannery Row and the marine science of Monterey Bay.

The exhibition is deliberately grounded in traditional materials — pencil, watercolor, ink, oil and, in at least one case, squid ink — echoing the tools a naturalist of Ricketts’ era might have carried.

Standout works include “Primordial Jewel,” which enlarges the hidden, iridescent interior of a mossy chiton into something monumental; “Sea Palm,” inspired by a holdfast spotted at Carmel River State Beach; “La Moule Bleue,” featuring a large blue mussel from a negative low tide covered in tide-pool species; “Intertidal Relics,” a detailed pencil study of fragments and shells gathered along the tideline; and “Ocean’s Eye,” drawn from a moment when a whale surfaced close enough to meet Loncola’s gaze.

Larger pieces are meant to be seen — and felt — from across the room.

Conservation runs through the show, but it arrives the way Loncola intends it to: through what she describes as “the wonderful world of curiosity that can lead to action.”

She is especially fascinated by kelp — its scale, strength, movement and role as habitat — and by the holdfast, the structure that anchors a kelp stipe against the current.

For Loncola, “hold fast” is also a call to action: Hold fast to your curiosity, your passion and your own way of seeing.

Visitors curious to go further are pointed toward organizations working to restore California’s kelp forests, including Reef Check and the Kelp Forest Alliance.

The invitation is simple and sequential: Look closer. Become curious. Understand more. Care more. And, finally, get involved.

Meet the Artist

Visitors will have two special opportunities to experience Loncola and her work during the exhibition.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Loncola will draw coastal birds live on-site at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in honor of Global Migratory Bird Day.

Loncola will return to the museum on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for Art on Tap, featuring a panel discussion and an opportunity to explore the ideas, inspiration, art and science behind the exhibition.

“On the Edge of the Pacific” is on view in the museum’s Bird Gallery from Sept. 16, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027.

About the Artist

Monica Loncola is a Northern California fine artist and natural science illustrator and a member of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI). She holds a BFA in studio arts from Rosemont College in Pennsylvania and completed her Masters Certification in Science Illustration at CSU Monterey Bay.

“On the Edge of the Pacific” is not Loncola’s first solo museum exhibition. An earlier body of work, “Architectural Dreams,” explored the architecture of the Hispanic Caribbean, predominantly Ponce, Puerto Rico, and traveled for five years, with exhibitions at Museo de la Historia and Museo Castillo Serrallés in Ponce, as well as the offices of the governor of Puerto Rico in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

A portion of her current exhibition was previously shown at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center, operated by NOAA, in Santa Cruz in July and August 2025.

Her illustration of a Pacific red salmon was published in a New York Times editorial, and her oil painting of a purple sea urchin was exhibited at the de Young Museum.

Loncola is based in Marin County, California.

Learn more at monicaloncola.com and follow @monicaloncola.