Melinda Hannigan starts with a view of a working ship, paints it, then manipulates it until a real image becomes abstract. Submitted photo

The Columbia River Maritime Museum announces the opening of the new exhibit, “InPort – The Art of the Working Waterfront.” This special exhibit features the work of four dynamic artists, all painting the industrial waterfronts of the Pacific Northwest in oil, watercolor and mixed media. Proceeds from the sale of the paintings will go to support the restoration and display of the museum’s pilot boat, Peacock.

There will be a museum member reception to meet the artists from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, June 18. In addition, the artists will be at the museum to meet museum-goers and talk about their work during the weekend. The exhibit will run through Sept. 7.

Melinda Hannigan’s inspiration comes from the working side of the maritime world – the colors and textures of tankers, container ships and rusty old bulk carriers. It’s an environment she has known all her life. “The colors and markings on these working ships are endlessly varied and often starkly beautiful. Most of my work begins with an image from this seldom-painted side of the maritime world. I manipulate color, composition and texture, and as a result, my paintings include realistic images that become abstract canvasses.” In addition to visual art, Hannigan enjoys playing music with friends.

Catherine Gill has been exhibiting and teaching painting and printmaking in Seattle and internationally for 25 years. Her layered mixed media paintings often incorporate gouache, oil, watercolor and pastel. She enjoys working on location and from her studio in Seattle, and teaches throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. “As an artist I look at landscapes and try to discover the abstracted designs and patterns that are present under the obvious subject matter. Investigating connections, transition places and where and how things come together interests me.”

Robin Siegl has always made art, primarily drawing and painting in water-based media. Siegl is drawn both to the industrial waterfront and the landscape, especially along Seattle’s Ballard Ship Canal, where her studio is located. “Over the past few years I have observed the working waterfront from an unusual point of view, a small rowboat. As my arms glide the skiff slowly through the water, my eyes see a series of paintings in the hard-edged reality of the ships and barge hulls that confront me.”

Suze Woolf’s goal is to transport the viewer into the world of painting where she shares her awe and excitement at the discovery of the magnitude of the industrial waterfront. “My subject matter is united by a common theme of human impact on the environment that include the eerily beautiful and faintly disturbing paintings of night-time industrial settings. I know that my best work contains both awe and ambivalence.” Woolf uses watercolors to paint the imposing scale of her subject matter.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum is located at 1792 Marine Drive. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors older than 65, $5 for youth ages 6 to 17 and free for children younger than 6. Museum members are admitted free of charge. For more information, call (503) 325-2323 or log on to www.crmm.org