Art Truly of the Sea

By Melissa Waterman

Clamber around nearly any portion of the Maine coast and you will encounter seaweed. There is no one seaweed; the name encompasses all sorts of different types of marine algae, many of which have been used for years by Mainers for culinary or medicinal purposes. The state is well known for its wild-harvested seaweeds and more recently for its aquaculture-raised varieties.

Now an exhibit in Rockland brings attention to seaweed’s role in art.

Holdfast! A Seaweed Exhibition opened on August 1 in Rockland. Artists Celeste Roberge and Ian Ellis assembled 30 artists from Kennebunk to Eastport working in multiple media whose works will showcase seaweed as an experimental and sustainable material.

Ian Ellis is a Portland-based sculptor. He attended the Swans Island Artist Residency in 2025, where he focused on creating an installation entirely self-supported by seaweed. Celeste Roberge has been working with seaweed since 2010. She had the first solo seaweed exhibitions in Maine at PhoPa Gallery in 2017 and Waterfall Arts in 2018.

The exhibit takes its name from the holdfast segment of kelp and other marine algae. GOM Inc. photo.

Works on display at the exhibit include watercolors, ceramics, sculpture, prints and even quilts. The curators have organized a Saturday lecture series called Seaweed Talks that highlight the creative relationships between science and art. Speakers include Jessica Muhlin, professor of marine biology at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, and Nichole Price, inaugural director of the new Center for Resilience and Economic Impact in Port Clyde. Shep Erhart, of the Maine Seaweed Council, will speak on sustainable seaweed harvesting, and

Josie Iselin author of An Ocean Garden and The Curious World of Seaweed, will present a lecture on kelp forests on Sunday, August 9.

Holdfast! A Seaweed Exhibition is on view at The Warehouse, 20 Winter Street, Rockland, Aug. 1-Sept. 13. The show is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.