A rendering of the new exhibit, which will be housed in the museum’s center gallery.

On Friday, the center gallery of the Columbia River Maritime Museum will complete a transformation years in the making with the opening of “Cedar and Sea.”

The new permanent exhibit marks another step forward for the Astoria museum in elevating Indigenous ties to maritime culture.

In September, Astorian photographer Lukas Prinos and I attended the opening of “ntsayka ilíi ukuk: This is Our Place,” an exhibit featuring the photography of Amiran White, who has spent years documenting the Chinook Indian Nation and its ongoing fight to achieve federal recognition.

With “Cedar and Sea,” the museum will add voices from up and down the Pacific coast, from southern Oregon to the far north reaches of British Columbia.

At the center of the display is a hand-carved canoe, one of more than 160 objects — tools and other implements made from bark, shell, stone and other natural materials harvested near the coast — that represent thousands of years of innovation.

The exhibit is split into four sections. First, visitors will be guided through a cathedral forest setting that introduces the cedar, the “tree of life.” The second and third sections will focus on weaving and traditional arts, while the final section looks at fishing and the sea.

Six film reels, each shot on location, will be dispersed throughout the four sections, introducing visitors to Indigenous carvers, a weaver, a gatherer of forest materials and a fisherman.

“Cedar and Sea” builds on a new direction for the museum, filling gaps in storytelling about coastal tribes.

And with plans to include another canoe in Mariners Hall, a new exhibit space slated to open in 2026 as part of a $30 million expansion project, it’s a direction the museum plans to keep building on.