Archive for: Past Exhibitions

The Whatcom Artist Studio Tour juried showcase features selected works by artists participating in this year’s studio tour. Celebrating its 29th year, the Whatcom Artist Studio Tour (WAST) features more than 50 artists in 31 studios and more than a dozen different media. WAST offers visitors insight into the creative process, work-life, and work environment of area artists and provides an opportunity for people to purchase original works. This year’s tour runs the first two weekends in October, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Visit www.studiotour.net for more information on the Whatcom Artist Studio Tour.

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

The Whatcom Museum is hosting an art installation in partnership with Whatcom Community College to honor and remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP). Red dresses will be on display in the Lightcatcher Courtyard, representing the thousands of Native women, men, children, and non-binary people who go missing or are murdered each year.

The original “REDress Project” by artist and Métis Nation member Jaime Black began in Winnipeg in 2011 to draw attention to crime against Aboriginal women in Canada. The project has since spread to the US and calls attention to the lack of reporting, data, and justice for Native American women.

There is a lack of meaningful data collected on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Some studies have been conducted, including in Whatcom County. The information is heartbreaking and triggering.

• Washington State was #2 in a study conducted by Urban Indian Health Institute.
• Seattle was #1 in a study conducted by Urban Indian Health Institute.
• Native women face murder rates 10 times above the national average. (wernative.org)
• Nationally, 86% of sexual assaults against Native women are committed by non-Native men.
• Native women are the only population that is most likely to experience sexual assault by people outside their racial or ethnic group.

Learn more about this issue by visiting the Urban Indian Health Institute website, www.uihi.org, and the National Indian Council on Aging website, nicoa.org.

Watch a video by the National Museum of the American Indian featuring artist Jaime Black (Métis), who talks more about this project: The REDress Project at the National Museum of the American Indian – YouTube

Children of the Setting Sun produced a video as a prayer to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Produced in 2019 it features the West Shore Canoe Family, with a song composed by Antone George: The Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women – YouTube

In 2016, Canada’s unions staged a powerful performance with music by A Tribe Called Red, honoring missing and murdered Indigenous women: Performance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women – YouTube

 

The REDress Installation is organized jointly with Whatcom Community College Native staff and the Whatcom Museum.

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

Featuring coastal landscape paintings from Northern California to Washington, spanning the 1880s to present, this stunning exhibition highlights the work of many well-known artists from both regions, as well as several who were underrecognized in their day.

Visitors are invited to examine both the similarities and differences in style in the works from these two regions, which extends from the coastline of Big Sur to the Monterey Peninsula to the Coast Range mountains and northward to the Puget Sound and Cascade mountains. The artists traveled back and forth between the two states and often knew one another, sharing common values about the land and drawing inspiration from the wilderness. The misty, foggy weather patterns are often represented in these works.

The paintings in Coastal Views are drawn from the Whatcom Museum’s collection, the Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey artist Warren Chang, and the private collections of Phil and Mary Serka of Bellingham, Wash.; and Paula and Terry Trotter of Carmel, Calif. Coastal Views is co-curated by Patricia Leach, Executive Director of the Whatcom Museum, and Sarah Clark-Langager, retired Director of the Western Washington University Gallery.

Image credit: Armin C. Hansen; Monterey Harbor, c. 1927; Watercolor; 24 x 25.75 in. framed. From the collection of Terry and Paula Trotter.

 

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

Susan Murrell’s works are meditations on passageways, life transitions, and the constancy of matter. In the summer of 2023, she will create a site-specific installation specific to the Museum’s Lightcatcher gallery. The immersive work employing sand, painting, and sculptural elements will explore our very human proclivity to be co-creators of the landscape as we assign value to materials, excavate and harvest, delineate, and build. The artist states, “We live in a place where various cultures have long negotiated a beautiful, fertile, and difficult landscape in hopes it will sustain us. I’m interested in how the prevalent philosophies and priorities of our time sculpt the physical environment and how this place is more porous, interconnected, and transitory than we often realize.”

Murrell’s work also explores how our concept of landscape has changed through technology. The visible horizon traditionally defined our relationship to the world; now, with our expanding perspective, we feel a kinship with microscopic images and aerial views of planets. Vestiges of built environments, architecture, or even scientific illustration have been added to our visual vernacular and create a sense of place for us. Our bodies are quite literally composed of recycled matter from the stars. We are reshuffled molecules. In this context, Murrell considers herself a landscape painter.

Murrell has been awarded residencies at programs such as Yaddo, Ragdale, Arteles in Finland, and Westfjords in Iceland. She has exhibited at Siena Heights University, Boise State University, Schneider Museum of Art, Carnation Contemporary, and Portland State University, among others. Her works are in the University of Oregon and the United States Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division collections, and she is currently a Professor of Art at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, Oregon.

This exhibition is supported by funds from the Oregon Arts Commission. Additional funding is provided by The Ford Family Foundation and Eastern Oregon University, the Whatcom Museum Foundation, Jean Andresen, and The City of Bellingham.

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

This fall the Whatcom Museum partnered with three Squalicum High School AP English Language Arts classes on a new student art program, called Picturing Justice. The goal was to feature photographs that reflect student concerns about equality, justice, and equity. Students worked with a variety of community partners to prepare for the project. A visit to the Museum introduced students to looking closely at art. The Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center taught skills for empathetic discussions. Dr. Lauren McClanahan, Director of the Bellingham Youth Media Project, shared strategies for taking impactful photographs. Through these lessons, students learned how art, identity, and social justice connect together. They then identified a justice issue that spoke to their identities and experiences. Going out into their communities, they captured images that highlight causes they are passionate about. From climate change to racial justice, these images show the challenges affecting the lives of these rising community leaders. See these student works on display in the second-floor hallway of the Lightcatcher building.

Support of Picturing Justice is provided by Shirley Prichard, Squalicum High School English teacher; Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center; Dr. Lauren McClanahan, Director of the Bellingham Youth Media Project; and Dakota Art.

More than 70 students participated in the project and below is a selection of the submissions. To see them all and read their artist statements, visit the exhibit in the Museum’s Lightcatcher building!

 

Smudged

Asian culture has been pushed down and erased in America since the first time Asian immigrants stepped foot in America. Chinatowns, home to cultural traditions from all over Asia, face the gentrification of larger companies. Local businesses, from restaurants to hospitals, are pushed out by white-owned chain restaurants and large apartment complexes. Asian culture in America is actively being invaded and torn down by people who are blind to the community formed through shared culture; to the home Asian Americans find through coming together and sharing their traditions.

Growing up, I’ve been made fun of for “gross” school lunches my mom woke up early in the morning to pack for me. My name is mispronounced persistently, and there are times I don’t even think to correct it. In my photo, I used a glass window to reflect an image of a barbie against a doll dressed in traditional clothing, representing the contrast between Asian culture and expectations for Asian Americans. The barbie is blurry—a clouded image of someone untrue to oneself, an expectation—whereas the doll behind the window stands her ground. If her identity were to be stripped away, her culture and way of life are still there, simply pushed away. The culture forced upon her, a blurry reflection, is the one unfamiliar to her. My purpose with this photograph is to encourage the audience to be more accepting of cultures they aren’t used to, even in the small actions they take when presented with unfamiliar customs.

Action Statement: I can be unapologetically proud of the culturally diverse aspects of my family, from food to linguistic differences. We can respect cultural hubs such as Chinatowns as places for Asian communities to come together and celebrate their culture.

 

A Field of Broken Glass

I took this photo in Brazil while I was volunteering with Athletes in Action. Most of this photo is of the open sky framed with a beautiful sunset reflecting off the clouds. As you look closer at this image you see the apartment complex and finally the soccer field. At first people don’t see a soccer field, or at least one that is recognizable to them. This field is all that this community in Teresina Piaui has to offer for their athletes. I took this picture as the kids were taking a water break. As I looked around, some of them didn’t have shoes on and yet all I saw was smiles from the kids as this was their passion. It was enough. I reflected on the photo I had taken that night and realized that there needs to be a movement for equal access to sports and equipment globally.  I had only ever played soccer on a beautiful turf field with a pair of cleats that fit me. I don’t even like soccer and yet I had such easy access. For the youth in Teresina soccer is their life and passion and are forced to play on a field filled with sand and glass.  My hope is that this image draws attention to the fact that there is a need for equal access to materials and I would encourage more support for programs like Athletes in Action that are helping provide materials for everyone.

Action Statement: I plan to return to Brazil this summer to help provide resources and equipment as well as lead sports camps to help grow their athletic community. You can help to support this mission by aiding programs like “Athletes in Action” and by raising awareness of the unequal access to athletics on a global scale.

 

 

 

 

Trash

I found this image at a time when wildfire smoke filled the air. Dissatisfied with the weather, to summon fall, I went to a local park. Here, I found the image of what appeared to me like a leaf, melted onto the top of a trash can lid. I knew that it illuminated my thoughts on the environment exactly. I photographed the lid of the trashcan, using a top-down view to not reveal the entire object and to have the focus entirely on the melted part. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest and growing up surrounded by nature, makes it more infuriating to witness extreme heat and flooding that damages my community. I hope to invite the viewer to consider first what the image is and secondly how it came to be. The lid of a trash can melted in the image of something that looks entirely natural. There is a plethora of knowledge and wisdom to be gained by studying and connecting with the natural world. The viewers of my image will hopefully consider the immediacy of damages caused by climate change, both to the natural world and the human world.

Action Statement: I will vote for a politician who will value the health of the environment over the health of corporations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dresses

This image represents the slow death of a culture. My culture. The image shows two dresses hung up on a wall. Both dresses are different colors, the designs on the dress are fading but the colors are still vibrant. The dresses are traditional clothes worn every day in Pakistan. The fading design represents fading culture, but the bright colors represent the parts of culture that are being “Americanized”. Typically, second and third generations of immigrants no longer wear traditional garbs anymore. We now wear jeans and sweaters, which makes us slowly lose the culture of our homeland and connections to past generations. I think this is in part due to a fear of not fitting in, of not being “American” enough. Due to this fear, we lose a part of ourselves, our history, our legacy, trying to be the “ideal” American.

As a person of color whose grandparents immigrated to the United States, I see myself slowly losing my culture. The first thing that went was the clothes. Both my parents no longer wearing traditional Pakistani clothing. The second thing that left was the language. My parents never passing it down to me due to being shamed for not speaking English. I hope this picture helps people to understand that one’s culture is important and worth saving, even when you’re afraid and shamed for being “different”. Instead, we should be proud.

Action Statement: I can encourage myself and other people to be more open-minded about wearing traditional clothing. We can normalize the representation of accurate traditional clothing in the media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safe Protesting

I took this image on November 7th at the Denver capital in Colorado as the Trump and Biden Presidential elections were happening. This was one of the first protests I’ve experienced as a young American and it scared me. I’ll be turning 18 in another year, and I want to be able to vote and protest peacefully. I fear that if we do not engage in peaceful protesting, protests will spiral out of control. We saw this happen at the Capital on January 6th, 2022. During this violent protest, five people were killed, as more than two thousand rioters attacked the capital building.

As I look at this image, I wonder about the future of protesting. Will there be armed guards at every corner? Will tear gas and riot shields be the norm? It’s not fair to young voters, like me, who want to safely express our right to speech, assembly, and expression of grievances. As a society we need to change our current approach to protests. We don’t need more riot armor, pepper spray, and rubber bullets. Instead, we need calm voices that are willing to express their needs peacefully and safely. Violence cannot be the only way to promote change.

Action Statement: I can lead by good example and encourage the people in my community to calmly and peacefully join in protesting for other social justice issues. You can refuse to participate in protests that are violent while talking to people that frequently join in protests and encourage them to stray away from actions of violence and hate in order to make a change.

 

 

 

Unlocking Vulnerability

I don’t take photos of my surroundings very often. But when I do, it’s because it has meaning to me. I like to see things and picture a deeper meaning to them. I photographed a picture of a small snippet of hundreds of lockets all connected to one fence. I took this photo only focusing on the lockets themselves because that’s where all the narrative is. People come from all over the world to see it. This picture was captured in Paris, France. I took this photo because it made me wonder about all the personal stories connected to each and everyone of those lockets. Most of them have an initial plus another. Who are these people that have a locket? Are they lovers? Parent and child? Friends? Each locket connects to a story of two individuals. Each person who is putting a locket on, is sharing a piece of themselves and their person. It’s vulnerable. Instead of locking away their love and compassion inside, they’re putting it on a locket, and into it. Each locket represents love shared between two. Its brave and unprotected in theory. But the love is protected by the strong metal locket that will never break open. I hope seeing this photo made you think about how brave it is to share yourself with others, and why it’s the strongest thing you really could do.

Action Statement: I can continue to advocate and show that being vulnerable is a strong emotion and makes you brave. We can encourage others to show their vulnerable side by normalizing vulnerability.

 

False Sense of Serenity

I took this picture with the idea of expressing the high expectations that every high schooler faces. Whether feeling pressure from coaches, teachers, parents, or peers, the universal truth is that society puts an overwhelming level of stress upon students. This year, I’ve taken on several difficult classes and joined many intensive extracurricular activities. This photo uses light and contrast in order to convey all the pressure students are under. I first started to understand the overwhelming expectations at the beginning of sophomore year, when I took AP US History, which, while being an extremely rewarding class, was difficult to succeed in as the workload was intense. This endeavor taught me how to be a successful and organized student, but for some, it soured them against school and caused them to give up. While students are constantly working, we are also still in the process of growing and learning and figuring out who we are. For some, these burdens cause overloads of stress, which can spark anxiety and other mental health issues. Mental health issues can lead to decreased focus, leading to lowered grades and decreased capacity for the normalized burdens. Adults often don’t understand this and keep pushing their children when that may be the worst thing that they can do. Many of my peers have suffered from this stress, and it can be very scary to go through this when one’s adults do not understand. It takes an incredible amount of creativity and stamina in order to succeed in the way that the adults in our lives want us to. I’ve had to come up with creative ways to complete the required amount of homework while still learning and doing my extracurriculars. I’ve mentally planned out essays while figuring out physics problems, practiced songs for choir while doing even more physics problems. While this photo may seem serene, the blaring light of the computer overshadows the real chaos on the desk. My current life is represented in this photo: Spanish and physics homework, pointe shoes on top of sheets and sheets of music. In spite of all of this, the photo seems serene. But if you look closely, under the surface, there is a storm of pressure. I hope that this photo helps to illuminate the incredible expectations for high schoolers, but to also provide understanding for the adults in our lives to have sympathy and compassion for us.

Action Statement: I can do this by changing my mindset about how I deal with my workload, from feeling stressed about all the things I need to do, to feeling grateful for having these opportunities. We can do this by changing the fundamental way society views college admissions by increasing societal understanding of the pressure that students face.

 

 

 

Tighter

I would always freak out when people asked me my dress or pant size. Negative self-talk would make its way to my head, eating me alive. Why did I think this way? When you look at your favorite TV shows or magazines, how thin are the women in them? I sadly couldn’t stop myself from comparing myself to them. And then, as I grew older, I realized that I wasn’t the only one comparing bodies, sadly lots of people do.

Orchids are beautiful. When one looks at orchids, no matter how colorful, big, small, tall, or short, if they have a pattern on their petals or not, they are always loved. Why can’t it be like that with women’s bodies? If you are a size too big you are called fat, a size too small you are seen as sick, if you are too tall you are a giraffe, and if you are too short you look like a child. These measurements get tighter and tighter until at one point the flowers can’t breathe, and they fall. Why do we want a world with the same flowers, when we could have a world with a breath-taking variety?

Action Statement: I can change the way I view myself by using affirmative language and appreciating more my body. We can break these standards by having more variety and inclusivity in social media, our communities, and our personal lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Choice

Like many people my age, I have been consumed by social media. Social media has many issues, but I chose to represent one in my picture. With the spread of social media, so many options are shown to users. Whether it’s the opportunity to travel the world, or to pick up hundreds of new hobbies, the options become overwhelming to the point where sometimes it’s easier to just do nothing. By doing nothing, we start to get upset and frustrated that we can’t be productive, which causes us to shut down even more. This is known as the “Paradox of Choice”, where a person has so many options that the choice becomes stressful and hinders their decision-making. In my work, I overlayed two images. One of me lying in bed and the other of me sitting up in bed. This photo represents the way I feel when I am overwhelmed. Often, I have found myself in bed instead of finding something to do. I hope to let others who understand this feeling know that it’s okay to be overwhelmed easily, especially during a time where social media is controlling our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shedding Light

I want to comment on the ignorance and lack of empathy our society shows towards homeless people. I believe we should engage in justice-oriented acts for people struggling in situations like this. I captured this picture to remind everybody, including myself, that even in the beautiful parts of where we live, there are deep inequities that we need to solve. The longer we continue to avoid finding a solution for this concern, the more we risk it becoming a norm in our society.

My image is of a place near Civic Stadium. Nearly every day I drive to the Stadium—a place that holds community track meets, graduation celebrations, and lively concerts—yet…still, I freeze for a second as I glance at these homes that are overshadowed by Civic’s presence. As a community, we have enjoyed the space of Civic so much, without realizing the homeless that also take refuge in this space. My hope is that by examining this image, and how it juxtaposes the two spaces, our community will give this pressing inequity the attention it deserves. Actions need to be taken, because everyone deserves a home.

Action Statement: I can help this happen by engaging in homeless outreach programs, instead of pretending I don’t notice them. You can do this by calling attention to the homeless population and treating them like people, so that we all understand we need to find solutions around mental health & affordable housing.

The Whatcom Museum collects, safeguards, and makes accessible thousands of artifacts which we hold in trust for the community. But why keep this stuff? What do these artifacts tell us? The exhibition There Was a Time: Whimsical Relics & Eclectic Images will showcase a diversity of items from the Museum’s history collection and photo archives that rarely see the light of day. What these objects tell us about our shared sense of place, the past, and ultimately ourselves, is available for public interpretation. And it is a lot of fun!

Shown for the first time here at the Whatcom Museum, this group of autobiographical paintings by Andrea Joyce Heimer reflect on states of loneliness, both in herself and in others.

Over the course of the pandemic the artist spent many hours in nature—as much as she once did in childhood. Having grown up in Montana, she is familiar with land that stretches out in all directions under a big sky and where pine covered mountains skirt brutally desolate badlands.

The Montana landscape is omnipresent in her densely populated, story-filled paintings. Each mountain, stream, prairie, and butte is as much a character in the work as the human figures that teem within.

Now a resident in Washington, where the impenetrable terrain emits a different kind of claustrophobic loneliness, the ferns, moss, mushrooms, and trees of this place make their way into her work. A multitude of encounters and experiences unfold through the varied painted scenes, leaving Heimer, as she puts it, “both bigger and smaller, more lost and more found.”

Learn more about Heimer’s work from Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, or visit her website, www.andreajoyceheimer.com.

From string bands on steamboats in the 1890s to alternative/indie rock bands today, for more than 100 years Bellingham’s music scene has embraced genres ranging from folk to classical to rock and roll and beyond. Located between the big cities of Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, Bellingham was and continues to be the sweet spot for performers both well-known and up-and-coming, where they can share their music with appreciative listeners in a more intimate environment. This exhibit presents a timeline of the styles, musicians, and venues that helped put Bellingham on the “music map.”

“Seattle — what? New York — who cares? It’s all about Bellingham. That period of a year or two, I never wanted this scene to fall apart. I wanted this to live forever, because it felt so organic and special.” —Ben Gibbard, lead vocalist and guitarist, Death Cab for Cutie, The Seattle Times article “It’s all about Bellingham: How stars Death Cab for Cutie and ODESZA got their starts locally,” May 11, 2019, by Michael Rietmulder

Creating a timeline of Bellingham’s Music History:

How do you take something so personal, vibrant, experiential, emotional, exhilarating, engaging, creative, and ethereal and tack it on a wall? That’s the challenge the Museum faced when trying to tell the story of Bellingham’s music scene. Through archival material, photographs, personal papers, oral histories, and more, curators added layers to the incredible stories that make up Bellingham’s musical history. Sandwiched between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., it makes sense that singers, musicians, bands, and other performers would want to make a stop in Bellingham along their tour routes. Through the decades, our community has been able to experience a variety of performers and musical styles, sparking interest and curiosity—from classical to blues, jazz to opera, and folk to rock. We hope this exhibit offers a brief, but entertaining overview of Bellingham’s rich musical history, and legacy.

 

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

Bonnie MacLean was just fine with designing handbills and taking tickets at her husband’s music venue, The Fillmore. But a falling out between husband Bill Graham and poster artist Wes Wilson plunged her into the psychedelic art world of San Francisco in the mid-1960s. It was MacLean who stepped in to create posters promoting the bands who would become iconic with the counterculture movement of the time. MacLean initially borrowed from the Art Nouveau style of Wilson, but soon developed her own designs, featuring elaborate plumes, curving letters, and stoic faces. While MacLean was not recognized among the “big five” Haight-Ashbury poster artists who came to be associated with the iconography of the counterculture scene – Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, and Rick Griffin – she stood out as one of the only women in the field. This exhibit pulls from the Museum’s incredible collection of psychedelic music posters from 1967.

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

Ideas about the American West, both in popular culture and in commonly accepted historical narratives, are often based on a past that never was, and fail to take into account important events that actually occurred. The exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the West, which too often has been dominated by romanticized myths and Euro-American historical accounts.

This exhibition presents an opportunity to examine previous misconceptions, question racist clichés, and draw attention to the multiple communities and histories that continue to form this iconic region of the United States. Working in various media, from painting and sculpture to photography and mixed media, the artists featured bring a nuanced and multifaceted history into view. Many Wests highlights many voices, including artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian American, Latinx, and LGBTQ+, who stake a claim in the American West.

Central Themes

The exhibition is presented in both English and Spanish, and organized around three central themes, Caretakers, Memory Makers, and Boundary Breakers. “Caretakers” examines how artists can redefine what it means to take care of themselves, their communities, and their futures. Featured artists include Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (Klamath Modoc), Awa Tsireh/Alfonso Roybal (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Patrick Nagatani, and Marie Watt (Seneca).

“Memory Makers” explores how artists act as transmitters of cultural memory as they bring forth neglected histories of the West through their work, and includes artists Jacob Lawrence, Roger Shimomura, Christina Fernandez, and others.

“Boundary Breakers” includes artists whose representations break away from myths of the West and assert their continued presence despite centuries of omission and erasure by mainstream culture. Featured artists include Angela Ellsworth, Raphael Montañez Ortiz (Apsáalooke/Crow), and Angel Rodríguez-Díaz.

Rip, Write, Reflect. Community Art Experience

Ongoing through Exhibition in the Lightcatcher first floor hallway

Auburn-based artist Marita Dingus initiated a new art piece related to the exhibition for a community art experience called, “Rip, Write, Reflect.” Using found and repurposed materials, Dingus constructed a mixed-media wall tapestry. Visitors are invited to add their thoughts through words or drawings on torn map pieces, responding to a prompt about the West. Watch this video to learn more about this project, which is generously supported by Art Bridges.

Multi-Institutional Partnership

Many Wests is organized jointly by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and four nationally accredited art museums located in some of the fastest growing cities and states in the western region of the United States. It is the culmination of a five-year exhibition partnership made possible by the Art Bridges Foundation. The partner museums are the Boise Art Museum in Idaho; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene, Oregon; the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City; and the Whatcom Museum. E. Carmen Ramos, acting chief curator and curator of Latinx art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum has led the collaborative curatorial effort.

Many Wests features artwork drawn from the permanent collections of all five collaborating museums and the exhibition will be presented at all five venues. The multi-city national tour began at the Boise Art Museum (July 31 to Feb. 13, 2022). It travels to the Whatcom Museum (March 19 to Aug. 21, 2022), the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Sept. 26 to Dec. 31, 2022), and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Feb. 4 to June 11, 2023). The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC, will be the final stop on the tour, where the exhibition will be on view from July 28, 2023 to Jan. 14, 2024. Learn more about this exhibition from the Smithsonian Voices blog or read a review from Essential West Magazine.

Support Provided By:

This is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Art Bridges Initiative.

The Whatcom Museum presentation of Many Wests is sponsored by Peoples Bank and Rafeeka & Neal Kloke. Additional support is provided in part by a Pandemic Relief Grant from ArtsWA (sub-granted from the National Endowment for the Arts), the Whatcom Museum Foundation, and the City of Bellingham. Media support funded through a City of Bellingham Tourism Promotion Grant. Generous support for the youth docent program and Marita Dingus’s community art installation is provided by Art Bridges.

 

 

 

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

Curated by Amy Chaloupka, Curator of Art

This exhibition explores intimate portraits of artists by artists. Some artists turn the camera on themselves or depict dear friends and colleagues in their work. Many artists are situated within their creative spaces or appear with the familiar tools of their trade. Artists x Artists draws from the Museum’s permanent collection and presents a variety of expressive gazes, each one giving hints toward the ways artists convey and construct the creative persona of the artist.

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The Whatcom Museum acknowledges that we gather on the traditional territory of the Lhaq’temish – Lummi People – and the Nuxwsá7aq – Nooksack People – who have lived in the Coast Salish region from time immemorial. The Museum honors our relationship with all of our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to their homeland where we all reside today.

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For the past several years, the Museum has helped celebrate Whatcom County artists by providing a showcase of select artworks by those participating in the annual Whatcom Artist Studio Tour (WAST). This year, we are sharing this artistry through a virtual showcase, rather than in our Old City Hall galleries.

WAST was founded in 1995, with 10 artists participating, to bring the public into artists’ working studios for a two weekend self-guided tour and sale. Over its 25 year history, that number has grown to upwards of 40 artists, with sometimes more than 30 participating studios. The Studio Tour offers visitors insight into the creative process, work life, and work environment of area artists.

While a bit different this year, the Studio Tour will still have participating artists working in a variety of mediums — clay, painting, mixed media, photography, sculpted glass, and more. Artists will open their studios by appointment only from October 3 through 17, and all visitors must wear masks and maintain social distancing guidelines. New for this year on the WAST website will be a virtual photo gallery of artists in their studios. Visit the WAST website for more information about this year’s tour and guidelines and to see more works by our Whatcom artists.

Generous support for this virtual project provided by Art Bridges.

Click on an image below to enlarge it.

 

Two countries – two photographers. This compelling collection of photographs presents two views of internment and incarceration in the early 1940s.

The 1942 incarceration of people of Japanese descent in the United States and Canada following the bombing of Pearl Harbor is portrayed through this stunning collection of black and white photographs. Ansel Adams and Leonard Frank document the conditions and experiences of the Manzanar camp in California, and the camps and beet farms in Alberta, where coastal British Columbia residents were forcibly moved.

The experiences in the U.S. and Canada had many similarities, and also many differences. Ansel Adams took a personal and intimate approach to illustrate the vitality and fortitude of the people. In contrast, Leonard Frank’s photographs are a clinical documentation of the government process.

This collection of more than 60 photographs provides an opportunity to reflect on the nature of forced separation and uprooting that directly impacted our coastal region. Two Views is organized by the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in Burnaby, British Columbia.

 

 

This traveling exhibit from Legacy Washington honors the centennial celebration of women’s suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women in the United States the right to vote. Moving Forward, Looking Back: Washington’s First Women in Government follows the lives of 14 women who soared to some of the most coveted offices in Washington politics never before held by women.

One of those women was Frances Axtell of Bellingham. Axtell served as a state representative from 1913-1915, where she was a fierce proponent of Washington’s minimum wage. She then went on to became the first woman appointed to a federal commission in 1917. Learn more about Frances Axtell here. Other remarkable women featured in the exhibit include Nena J Croake, Josephine Preston, Reba Hurn, Bertha Knight Landes, Belle Reeves, Catherine May, Dixy Lee Ray, Jeannette Hayner, Carolyn Dimmick, Jennifer Belcher, Deborah Senn, Christine Gregoire, and Patty Murray.

Join the League of Women Voters of Bellingham/Whatcom County for a variety of events and programs celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage, including a a series of educational and thought-provoking programs: Towards a More Perfect Democracy: History & Future of the Struggle for Voice. Learn more here.

Note: This exhibition was originally scheduled to close May 17th, but will now be closing May 10th.

Photo: Suffragettes in Seattle, 1909. Gift of Gloria Martin. Whatcom Museum 1993.66.1

Funding provided by the Washington State Women’s Commission and the Washington State Historical Society through the Votes for Women Centennial Grant Program.

 

Rocks and minerals are the foundation of our planet. Minerals are the basic geological building blocks of the solid earth. They can be dazzling to the eye as light catches the naturally occurring facets. To a trained eye, some minerals might be fairly easy to find with a bit of digging; others require rappelling down the side of a cliff.

The Museum has partnered with members of the Friends of Mineralogy – Pacific Northwest Chapter to present an incredible display of minerals collected from throughout the Pacific Northwest. Two unique quartz specimens, widely believed to be the finest in the world and rarely on public display, will be the highlights. Both minerals were collected from Denny Mountain in King County.

What Lies Beneath will showcase more than 50 excellent specimens, including calcite, quartz, vesper garnet, thunder eggs, fluorite, natrolite, stilbite, heulandite, microcline, zaktzerite, and aegirine. Also included will be samples of marine and land fossils, including a cast replica of a “big track” fossil found in Washington.

From those the size of a fingernail to those requiring a forklift, learn how minerals are formed and where they are found. Photos and video document the field work involved and provide insight into the collection process. Complementing the exhibition will be a variety of programs and hands-on activities.

Join us for a “Cascades Crystals” lecture with mineral collector Randy Becker on Sun., Nov. 3, 2 – 3pm at Old City Hall. Learn more HERE.

RELATED: Collecting Minerals in the Pacific Northwest

Image: Quartz (Amethyst), from King County, Wash. Photo Credit: Cory Torpin.

In the Spirit of the People: Native Contemporary Artists features works by Native American artists in the Museum’s gallery and public spaces on a rotating basis. The series is meant to highlight outstanding contemporary Native artwork and allow the Museum to work more closely with members of area tribes. Works in the series may also be displayed in the People of the Sea and Cedar exhibit gallery.

Raya Friday, People of the Fire

Lightcatcher lobby

To kick off the series, Lummi Nation glass artist Raya Friday installed her piece People of the Fire in the Lightcatcher lobby in July of 2019. The sculpture is made of glass, bronze, and stone and weighs roughly 2,700 pounds. Friday said the piece represents the spirituality of the elements and the idea that “everything in the natural world has its own energy, its own spirit.”

It took Raya about eight months to create the sculpture of glass and bronze set into a pedestal of stone, which she completed in 2007. Raya was involved with each element, from mixing the bronze to cutting the stone to pouring the molten glass. The flames get their color from frit, or concentrated crushed glass. This gives the unpolished sides a slightly rough appearance. Raya used sand casting to create each flame, then hand-carved faces into the surface. Located in the Lightcatcher lobby, the sculpture is illuminated by the natural light coming through the large glass windows.

Read more about Raya Friday on the Museum’s blog. The Museum Store is currently featuring a variety of glass art created by Raya for purchase.

 

A year of big dreams, big burns, and big politics, 1889 captured a place in our history as a time of great prosperity and adversity. The face of Washington changed. Pioneers arrived, and townsfolk rebuilt from the rubble. Finally, on November 11, 1889, Washington rose as the 42nd state in the union. This exhibit from Legacy Washington introduces you to the people and events shaping the territory in the days leading up to statehood.

About the image: The traveling Great Eastern Photographic & Advertising Co. captured this view of Pacific House, at the NW corner of F and 13th (W. Holly) streets, in 1888, just prior to Statehood. Whatcom was still in “Wash[ington] Terr[itory].”  Whatcom Museum #1996.10.13550.

Hundreds of glass negatives have been donated to the Whatcom Museum over the years, many arriving in damaged condition after decades of poor storage and rough handling. The pictures in this exhibition are derived from time-ravaged Silver Gelatin Dry Plate Negatives and will feature their accumulated scratches, cracks, lost corners, mold stains and water damage. Though marred, the century-old negatives can still render images of historical significance.

Image credit: Bunny Girl, c. 1920 from a water damaged 5×7 by J. W. Sandison. Whatcom Museum # 1996.10.5941

Before they liberated concentration camps or freed countries from tyranny, men and women in uniform fought enemy forces everywhere — in factories on the Washington home front and on beaches abroad. They braved the unknown, lived through the unthinkable, and changed who we are.

“I’ve had a wonderful life. … I would go through it again to keep our freedom, really. … I know I could be angry for what I had to go through, but it made life worth living.”

— Capt. Joseph F. Moser, U.S. Army Air Forces, shot down over north-central France in 1944, POW held at Buchenwald concentration camp, resident of Whatcom County.

This is just one of the emotion-packed stories documenting the personal experiences of men and women who fought for freedom on the battlefield and on the home-front in the exhibit Washington Remembers WWII: Their Sacrifice. Our Freedom.

The Legacy Washington exhibit was created through the Office of the Secretary of State to honor the tens of thousands of Washingtonians who served in the war. “The profiles allow World War II veterans a chance to share stories that haven’t been told. The time to hear their stories is now. Every three minutes in this country, we lose a World War II veteran. These heroes offer first-hand accounts of the war, a personal perspective to history, that we can’t afford to lose,” said Secretary of State Kim Wyman.

In addition to the Legacy stories, the exhibit will highlight a variety of WWII artifacts, documents, and historic photographs from the Whatcom Museum’s collection.