The Columbia River Maritime Museum is a most handsome building. As it continues to expand, you might call it a campus.

One drives past the museum frequently, but more slowly these days. Astoria traffic is becoming problematic. At a reduced speed, we stare from our car windows and marvel. “Standout” is a word that comes to mind as we view the architecture. Perhaps some of us haven’t even ventured inside, at least recently. Understand: Inside is magic. 

The most recent exhibit was Cedar and Sea, a stunning show of artwork related to the maritime culture of the indigenous People of the Pacific Northwest. The history is revealing. This place we call home is and has been the home of an indigenous culture (the Chinook) many thousands of years in the making. In case you haven’t seen it, this excellent exhibit remains on view. But let’s move forward to the next show.

In the new gallery space, you will find an exbibit of 29 fine maritime paintings from the Pacific Rim Institute of Marine Artists. I promise, you will love it. In an age when a banana taped to a canvas sells for over a million dollars, it’s exhilarating to see fine painterly representation, the old-fashioned way: Paint on canvas.

It’s exciting to see the subtlety of light and color — and an applied finesse — sparkle from a museum wall. Of course there is passion, subtle passion. Here, it unfurls rather than leaps. 

Museum Director Bruce Jones addressed an invited audience of artists and viewers at the official opening. He proudly described the new Mariner’s Hall that is under construction and due for completion in April 2026, with exhibits to open in October 2026.

Jeff Smith, the curator, expressed his delight to have filled this relatively new gallery space (one year old) with two- and three-dimensional artwork for which it was designed. Assistant Curator Mathew Palmgren hung the show, a beautifully composed display with exacting and inspired lighting. “A gallery of opportunity,” offered the directors. A summation in a scrabble to define the expanding space. They envisioned it this way.

One of the artists, Steve Mayo, learned painting from Peninsula master watercolorist Charles Mulvey after leaving first-year art school. Mayo mastered the depiction of sky, water, and the shapely lines of a ship hull under the watchful tutelage of Mulvey. 

Mayo said about his own work, “I paint the picture so that someone viewing it gets the feeling of being there.” He has been painting for 60 years, and applies his skill to painting waves, storms, sky and the old wooden boats, one of which he rebuilt and skippered for years. 

The distinguished master draughtsman Harold Johnson was also in attendance. Talk about precision in a moveable landscape. Here is calm water, a painting of the Cathlamet waterfront.

This day, this moment, you settle comfortably onto the Columbia River. You flow peacefully past decaying docks, old canneries and the fine wooden boats, nearly relics today in an age of plastics. You are there.

Salmon swim by, along with Johnson’s perfectly drawn trollers and gillnetters. The colors mix and flow, “averaging out,” says Johnson, “impressionistic,” but in fine detail. And I mean detail. Brilliant color and light too, frozen in a momentary snapshot.

This exhibit of paintings created by members of the Pacific Rim Institute of Marine Artists is another feather in the cap for the Columbia River Maritime Museum. And the new structure next door, soaring into the summer sky a year from now, will extend the reach and prestige of the museum.

The museum has become one of the finest maritime museums in the country, or perhaps — let me venture forward — the world. 

Stop in. Bring a neighbor. A visitor. Be inspired!

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Pacific Rim Institute of Marine Artists art show, through December.

The Columbia River Maritime Museum at 1792 Marine Drive, in Astoria, is open 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Access to the Lightship Columbia, open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. is included with Museum admission. Visitors should stop by the admissions desk prior to boarding.

Admission:

Adults (18-plus), $18; seniors (65-plus), $15; college students, $15 (with student ID); children (6-17), $8; kids 5 and under: free; members and active-duty military, free.