Art in the Lobby

by Caitlin Sullivan July 29, 2026

Point Reyes Station artist Laurie Mahan Sawyer illustrates the small marine worlds that live on shorelines and the bottom of bays. A gnarled ball of kelp. Barnacles on a muscle shell. The skin of an eel. “We’ve all seen how magical that other world is,” she said.

In an exhibit showing through August at the Dance Palace, she uses pen, ink, and watercolor to show the symbiotic life below the surface of San Francisco and Tomales Bays. Her work is scientific and illustrative, educational and tender. Viewing it can feel like peering through a skylight into the water.

“A lot of people who aren’t familiar with the bay or don’t get in the water don’t know how rich it is and what species are in it,” she said. “I want to give them a chance to go under the water. To see what’s there.”

Ms. Sawyer’s work with ink began at age 10, when her older sister gave her a quill and bottle of black India ink. Growing up in Santa Monica, she collected field guides at book fairs and drew posters for her bedroom walls. A high school marine biology teacher piqued her interest in sea life and suggested she become a scientific illustrator. 

After graduating from college with a degree in illustration, she worked as a grade school art teacher and later as art director at Hog Island Oyster Company while raising her five children in West Marin. It wasn’t until she was turning 60 that she pursued what her high school teacher saw in her years before. She joined a class of mostly 20-year-olds and received a certificate in science illustration from California State University, Monterey Bay. “I was so ready to re-meet myself, my artistic self,” she said.

The walls of her small studio are now covered in cutouts of sketches, pages of her calendars, and ink doodles atop grocery lists. Besides her Dance Palace exhibit, she is showing her work at Ethical Clothing in Petaluma and as part of a month-long benefit art sale at the old Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant in Inverness. 

“I think observation is key in life, to slow down and take time to take in a place,” she said. 

“The Nature of Things” shows through Aug. 28 as part of the Dance Palace Art Committee’s monthly rotating lobby series. An artist reception takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 2. Caitlin Sullivan is the Dance Palace’s Administrative Coordinator. 

Reprint with permission from the Point Reyes Light