Fish tanks reimagined, and the whimsical ways of artist and illustrator Marcia Perry.

The sensation of looking at the underwater world is so strong in Marcia Perry’s recent series Sea Life – now on display at Artisana Gallery in Pacific Grove – that it makes one think: This is what a fish tank should be, and always aspired to be, as a Platonic ideal. That’s because Perry’s sea life seems as happy, meditative and harmonious as any community would wish to be; her clown fish are zen and the ocean is truly pacific, very blue and never sad.

“I like putting things together,” Perry says about her happy compositions, not unlike what you can see at the Monterey Bay Aquarium: groups of colorful fish “pacing” around their “room.” Unlike those in the Aquarium, Perry’s various big-eyed fish don’t shy away from eye contact with humans, inviting them to be part of the underwater harmony.

“The ocean is an endless discovery,” says this Denver native, who moved to Monterey in 1990. What she loves most is the flow of the ocean and that underwater, everything is happening and moving “in one breath.”

To create the Sea Life images, Perry used her diving and snorkeling experience – very satisfying for a double astrological Pisces (a water sign symbolized by two fish), she says.

Perry is known and beloved in the community as a founder (along with her wife and fellow artist Meg Biddle) of the Youth Arts Collective in 2000. Since then, YAC has raised a generation of local artists who now lead the organization.

“I love kids,” Perry explains, being the first to admit that there’s a “sense of whimsy” everywhere in her art – which includes children’s book illustrations. “My main drive is to please children.” It’s probably not a coincidence that before moving to murals, fine art and book illustrations, Perry got a degree in early childhood education.

Wonders of local nature are also present in Perry’s work as an illustrator. A good example is her alphabet series Here on Earth: It includes 90 animals to help children identify the sounds of each letter through alliteration, paired with a message of conservation.

Perry says there is something very special in those early reading experiences. “We don’t often think about it this way,” she says, “but it’s through children’s books that most people encounter art for the first time.”

Sea Life is on display at Artisana Gallery, 612 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove through September. Visit marciaperry.com for more.