Winter & Spring 2026 Events
Gallery openings, interviews, articles, and seminars. Please be in touch directly to schedule something for you. On instagram @JosieIselin.
Five Foundational Kelp, 2nd Floor Lobby Mural, SFSU, Science and Engineering Innovation Center
19th Avenue at Holloway Ave, SF, CA
The Mysterious World of Bull Kelp is always online at bullkelp.info. It is a web-based book.
The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest is now also a real book illustrated by Ellen Litwiller and published by Heyday Books. Release date is March 17th, 2026! Book events are listed below.
March 14 - May 9, 2026
Gray Loft Gallery, Orange Crush,
2889 Ford Street, Oakland (Jingletown), CA
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 9, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
April 1 - May 17, 2026
Radius Gallery, Santa Cruz, CA, ART & CHANGE
The Tannery Art Center, 1050 River Street
Artists talk May 17, and other events HERE
Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest BOOK TOUR
Josie and Ellen will be at a bookstore near you talking all things kelp. They will chat about their unique storytelling trajectory, how kelp is doing locally and throughout California, and how science and art are a powerful duo. Come get a signed copy and bring questions!
Tuesday, April 21, 6:30 pm
Diesel: A Book Store, Santa Monica, CA
Kelp chat with Josie and Tom Ford from The Bay Foundation in LA! Learn about kelp restoration in Southern California
Saturday, May 2, 1 pm
Noyo Center for Marine Science, Fort Bragg, CA
Kelp chat with Josie and Ellen, in conversation with Sheila Seimans, director of Noyo Center.
Wednesday, May 6, 5:30 pm
Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, Berkeley, CA
Thursday, May 7, 7 pm
Blackbird Bookstore and Cafe, San Francisco, CA
Tuesday, May 12, 1 pm
KWMR interview with Julie Motz: Hot tech/Cool Science & Arts Desire
Thursday, May 14, 6 pm
Books By the Bay, Sausalito, CA
Friday, May 15, 6:30 pm
West End Arts District, Alameda, CA
An Evening of Kelp with Josie Iselin, part of the Ocean Photographer of the Year Exhibit event series. Presentation and book signing.
Sunday, May 17, 3 pm
Radius Gallery Art & Change, Santa Cruz, CA
Curator's talk with the artists in the gallery, moderated by Audrey Heller
Saturday, May 23, 7 pm
Beers Books, Sacramento, CA
Sunday, July 19, time tbd
Fibershed, Point Reyes Station, CA
Josie and Ellen with Seeley Studios
BELOW ARE LINKS TO PODCASTS, PRESENTATIONS, INTERVIEWS, AND PAST EVENTS
A Big Sur Podcast with Magnus Toren
Nature Revisted with Stefan VanNorden
The Revelator/Save This Species for The Center for Biological Diversity
A Little More Wonder: interview with Ellen Litwiller, illustrator of The Mysterious World of the Bull Kelp Forest
KPA: A Rude Awakening
Kepler's Books, San Mateo - Josie in conversation with Jessica Riskin
Rick Kleffel: Narrative Species–The Agony Column
2025
San Juan Islands Museum of Art: Kelp! Reverberations, Artist's Interview
A collabortive exhibit with Ken Pearce, Jonathan Kawchuck, Betsy Peabody, and Marianna Leuschel depicting the kelp forests of the Salish Sea with sound, sculpture, banners, and graphics.
Art and Algae: An Ocean Intimacy. A Story in Four Parts
Essay published in Applied Phycology, volume 5, 2024, issue 1
2022
836M Gallery - KELP!
Video introduction to the exhibit HERE
836 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94133
An installation featuring the artwork of five women artists whose practice honors, specifically, the bull kelp that dominates the ocean waters of the Marin, Sonoma and Mendocino coastline. The exhibit will act as a nexus for programming around kelp-inspired issues concerning Northern California and beyond.
Art on the Beach, Lincoln City, Oregon
Volunteer rakers created 100 yard long sand art depicting bull kelp and sea otter. Information was shared with the public revealing the crucial importance of kelp forests to our oceans and the interdependence of kelp and sea otter.
2021
Earthshot Prize Documentary Series
Revive Our Oceans Episode 4, three-minute segment.
Come snorkel in the kelp forest with Josie and on into Josie's studio as Sir David Attenborough narrates the story of the bull kelp forest of the California coast as an introduction to global kelp forest issues.
Beaty Biodiversity Museum, UBC, Vancouver, Canada
The Curious World of Seaweed,
The exhibit features forty prints, large and small, from the portfolios that generated the research for the book, The Curious World of Seaweed. An extensive website brings captions, videos, and explanations to your fingertips, truly a marriage of art and science. Specimens from Beaty's extensive algal collection will be on view in cases below the artwork.
