A Deep Dive into the Portrait of Ocean Conservationist Julie Packard

In 2019, the National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Hope Gangloff to paint this striking portrait of Packard, which shows her posed in front of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s impressive Pacific kelp forest exhibit. 

The artist, who is known for creating large, brightly colored portraits, spent a week making sketches and photographs of Packard and the underwater exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in preparation for the painting.

On an episode of the National Portrait Gallery’s PORTRAITS podcast, Packard talks with the museum’s director, Kim Sajet, about the painting. It was important to Packard that the artist represent the various species accurately.

Gangloff’s portrait celebrates the important contributions that Packard has made through her work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and elsewhere while highlighting the marine life that she seeks to protect. Let’s take a closer look at some of the animals and plants found in the portrait.

These fish stand out for their bright orange color. During the reproduction process, male garibaldi build nesting sites and guard the fertilized eggs until they hatch. The garibaldi, a protected species, is the official state marine fish of California.

Several kinds of rockfish live in the kelp forest exhibit. Although rockfish species vary by size, shape, and color, they all have distinctive, venomous spines along their dorsal fins. Rockfish have long lifespans and can live to be more than 150 years old.

These sharks are common along California’s coast. Their mouths are found on the flat undersides of their heads, making it easy for them to feed on small animals, such as clams and crabs, that hide in the sandy ocean floor. 

The animals in the kelp forest exhibit swim among towering fronds of giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) and blades of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) that form canopies near the water’s surface. Both species of algae cling to the rocky surface of the seafloor and grow toward the water’s surface. 

In the Monterey Bay, giant kelp grows approximately twelve inches each day. The kelp provides food and shelter for the many animals that inhabit the kelp forest. It also attracts the sea otters that help keep kelp forests healthy by feeding on sea urchins, whose presence, if left unchecked, would decimate the kelp beds.

Gangloff’s vivid color palette and depiction of sunlight filtering down through the aquarium’s open-air tank create a sense of visual unity, aligning Packard with the various plants and animals that populate the kelp forest exhibit. Even the colors and textures of the marine biologist’s scarf and jacket resemble elements of the aquatic habitat behind her.

The portrait emphasizes the interconnections and interdependencies of this important marine ecosystem as well as Packard’s important role in advocating for its conservation. In this podcast clip, Packard explains why the oceans are so important to global health.