Downtown Port Townsend could become a bit more crabby as a local artist wants to make a big deal out of something very, very small.

Rebecca Welti is a sculptor who melds marine science with art. She recreates plankton, the almost invisible underlings of the marine world, into super-sized pieces of public art.

At last week’s meeting of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Welti outlined her Plankton Project, a proposal to place an 8-foot-tall sculpture of a crab plankton near the playground at Pope Marine Park.

Welti said the project is a way to bring plankton into the public eye in a big way.

The playful public art would be a way to show Port Townsend’s commitment to the environment while also highlighting its crab fishery, coastal recreation, and the health of the Salish Sea.

The crab plankton figure would be cast in glass-reinforced concrete, she said, and would be joined by a 12-foot-high sea star plankton that’s planned to be installed this summer in the JUMP! Playground at HJ Carroll Park in Chimacum.

Getting the city’s approval for the crab sculpture at Pope Park, Welti told arts commissioners, would mean the two massive pieces could be brought to Jefferson County on the same truck.

“It would be really wonderful to enhance downtown Port Townsend with plankton and ocean awareness public art,” she said.

Interpretive signing would also be installed to explain what the crab plankton sculpture is to park visitors.

Welti said she was funding the sculpture project, but added she might seek some assistance through a partial GoFundMe or similar crowd-funding source.

She asked the arts commission to help promote her proposal to city decision-makers, and noted that the project has already received support from other marine-oriented organizations.

Arts commissioners noted the project was not in front of them for an official review, but said they liked the concept.

“I think it looks wonderful,” said Arts Commissioner Sheila Long.

“I love the sculpture,” added Arts Commissioner Nan Toby Tyrrell. “It looks like a wonderful, happy thing.”

Welti said the public art piece would allow children to climb onto it, as would the baby starfish sculpture planned for HJ Carroll Park. The head of the crab sculpture would stand about 4 feet high, with the horn on the top of the piece extending skyward for another 4 feet or so.

It was designed to be just tall enough for a child to shimmy up and straddle the top horn, she said.

City Councilmember Ben Thomas, the council’s liaison to the Arts Commission, praised the generosity of Welti’s offer but wondered how sturdy the sculpture would be for those who tried to climb on top.

“We have some childlike adults here,” Thomas said.

Engineers at the casting facility for the sculpture in Colorado have indicated it would be “quite stable,” Welti said, and added that the piece would be bolted to a 3-foot-wide steel plate that’s ½ inch thick.

It’s expected to weigh between 3,000 to 4,000 pounds, she added.

With the recent vandalism to Port Townsend’s newest public art much in the minds of locals lately, Thomas also asked how Welti would feel if her sculpture was damaged.

“I would be, of course, very disappointed. But I would also be the first one to volunteer to take care of it; clean it up.

“You just cannot predict what might happen,” Welti told art commissioners. “I accept that risk.”

Taking the chance was worth it, she added, to raise public awareness of the importance of plankton for the environment.

Arts Commissioner Dan Groussman also seemed impressed with slides showing the two sculptures.

“How cool are these? I would love one for my yard,” Groussman said.

He also recounted the recent vandalism to public art in Port Townsend.

“Do we even deserve such nice things in our town?” he asked.

City representatives at the meeting noted the proposal would undergo multiple reviews by other groups, and eventually, the city council, for approval.

Members of the Arts Commission said the project should come back in the future for another look by a subcommittee of the group.

“I think it’s great, personally,” Arts Commissioner Joe Gillard said of the sculpture. “I don’t think people know enough about plankton.”