The Whatcom Museum Reopens March 4 & Upcoming Programs

The Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington is excited to be reopening at 25% capacity beginning Thursday, March 4, 2021. Their new days/hours of operation will be Thursday through Sunday from noon - 5 p.m. at the Lightcatcher and Old City Hall. The Family Interactive Gallery will remain closed, but the Museum hopes to reopen the FIG soon. The Museum Store remains open Wednesday through Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Photo Archives are open by appointment only.

Programs

• Community Photo Project: Supercharging Your Snapshots (Virtual) 
• Saturday, March 6, 2–3:30 p.m.
• $5 suggested donation/Members free
• Registration required 
  • We aim to take the ISO illiterate and turn them into exposure experts! As part of our month-long focus on photography, join us to learn how to take your camera from automatic to manual. In this digital workshop we’ll explore the settings and options available on devices from smartphones to DSLRs. You will be amazed at what you can craft from tools you may not realize you have! Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

• Whatcom County Historical Society Situating Ourselves in the Salish Sea with Anna Booker (Virtual)
• Thursday, March 11, 7:30–9 p.m.
• $5 suggested donation/Members free
• Registration recommended
  • Anna Booker, history instructor at Whatcom Community College, will share results from year one of the 2020-2022 National Endowment for the Humanities grant-funded projects titled Situating Ourselves in the Salish Sea: Using Experiential Learning and Storytelling to Inspire Critical Thinking about Place. She will share the Salish Sea Virtual Lab developed by a team of scholars at WWU and WCC to support experiential learning in the virtual environment. This presentation is via YouTube livestream. A link to access the livestream will be emailed to registrants the day of the event.

• Community Photo Project: Framing Your Photos (Virtual) 
• Saturday, March 13, 2–3:30 p.m.
• $5 suggested donation/Members free
• Registration required
  • If a picture says a thousand words, a well-framed shot can turn those words into poetry. You’ll learn how carefully composing your shots can lead to classic images. We’ll be covering the fundamentals of framing your shots, from lighting to positioning. Then we’ll dive into how you can utilize these concepts to make a picture convey meaning. Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

• Community Photo Project: From Analog Image to Digital Masterpiece (Virtual) 
• Saturday, March 20, 2–3:30 p.m.
• $5 suggested donation/Members free
• Registration required
  • Take your fading Polaroids and turn them into iconic Instagram images! This virtual workshop will teach you how to digitize and edit photos both old and new. As stewards of more than 250,000 photos in our Photo Archives, we know a few things about cleaning up photos for the 21st century. We’ll explore the best practices for turning physical prints into digital files, and then we’ll share tips and tricks for editing to preserve and share your masterpieces. Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

• Community Photo Project: From Analog Image to Digital Masterpiece (Virtual) 
• Saturday, March 20, 2–3:30pm
• $5 suggested donation/Members free
• Registration required
  • Take your fading Polaroids and turn them into iconic Instagram images! This virtual workshop will teach you how to digitize and edit photos both old and new. As stewards of more than 250,000 photos in our Photo Archives, we know a few things about cleaning up photos for the 21st century. We’ll explore the best practices for turning physical prints into digital files, and then we’ll share tips and tricks for editing to preserve and share your masterpieces. Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

• North Cascades Audubon Society Panama’s Cloud Forest: The Junction of Bird Communities (Virtual) 
• Tuesday, March 23, 7–8:30 p.m.
• Free
• Registration required
  • The mountains of Western Panama are a mixing pot for birds including migrants and residents. Thomas Bancroft, Ph.D., will share more about this fascinating place. Be immersed in its sounds, explore the gorgeous bird life, exotic flora, and take a quick trip through geologic history, all with a focus on understanding the evolution of some of our common North American birds. Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

• Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
• Sunday, March 28, 1:30–3:30 p.m. (drop-in)
• Included with admission/members free
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St.
  • A volunteer from the North Cascades Audubon Society will be on hand in the John M. Edson Hall of Birds to answer questions about migration, conservation, birds in peril, and more. All ages welcome. Volunteers and visitors will follow social distancing. *Please check our website for closure updates.

April:

• Whatcom County Historical Society The Donovan Diaries by Brian Griffin (Virtual) 
• Thursday, April 8, 7:30–9 p.m.
• $5 suggested donation/members free
• Registration recommended
  • Local author and historian Brian Griffin will discuss his latest book, The Donovan Diaries. John Joseph Donovan was a man born of common clay who lived the American dream, rising to great heights of achievement, wealth, and community affection. This presentation is via YouTube livestream. A link to access the livestream will be emailed to registrants the day of the event.

• Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
• Sunday, April 25, 1:30–3:30 p.m. (drop-in); Included with admission/members free
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St.
  • A volunteer from the North Cascades Audubon Society will be on hand in the John M. Edson Hall of Birds to answer questions about migration, conservation, birds in peril, and the importance of studying bird specimens today. All ages welcome. Volunteers and visitors will follow social distancing while interacting in the Hall of Birds. *Please check the Museum’s website for closure updates.

• North Cascades Audubon Society The Rescue of the Umatilla Burrowing Owls and Other Discoveries (Virtual) 
• Tuesday, April 27, 7–8:30 p.m.
• Free
• Registration required 
  • Join David Johnson from the Global Owl Project as he reveals the unusual rescue efforts using artificial burrows to bring back the burrowing owls at the Umatilla Army Depot in Oregon. Johnson will describe what he has learned during this 11-year project and will discuss the demographics, mate selection, migration patterns, and other facets of the ecology of the Western burrowing owl. Registration is free but required. Participants will receive an email confirmation with the Zoom login info once they sign up.

Exhibitions

• Conversations Between Collections: The Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Whatcom Museum
• Through March 7, 2021
• Lightcatcher building | 250 Flora St.
  • There’s only a limited time left to see three American masterworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM). Two exhibitions titled Conversations Between Collections highlight the three works on view from the SAAM in conversation with art from our permanent collection. Fritz Scholder’s Indian and Contemporary Chair, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s State Names, and Jasper Francis Cropsey’s The Coast of Genoa allow for fresh perspectives around investigations of place and identity.

• Anatomy of a Collection: Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts 
• Through March 21, 2021
• Lightcatcher building | 250 Flora St.
  • Curated by Amy Chaloupka, Curator of Art To mark 10 years since the Lightcatcher building’s construction, the Whatcom Museum is celebrating works of art welcomed into the permanent collection during this time. This exhibition acknowledges the long-standing relationships with area artists and patrons who have helped to shape and expand the collection. More than 70 works are on view, many for the first time at the Museum.

• 1968: The Year That Rocked Washington 
• Through May 16, 2021
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect Street
  • The year was 1968. Change was in the air. Everywhere. From Saigon to Seattle, Paris to Pasco. On college campuses, the campaign trail, and evergreen peaks, Washingtonians were spurred to action. Legacy Washington looks back at 1968 and its impact on Washington State through the stories of some remarkable people who lived through it. Above all, 1968 showed the power of an individual to make a difference. Legacy Washington is an educational program of the Office of the Secretary of State.

• Vintage Vaudevillians 
• Through May 2021
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St.
  • Curated by Jeff Jewell, Historian and Archivist This photographic exhibition in Old City Hall’s first floor main gallery highlights a dozen vaudeville acts that performed in Bellingham in the early 20th century. Originally used to promote the acts, these publicity photos were saved by James Warwick, stage manager at downtown theaters during vaudeville’s heyday.

• Jac Trautman: The Specter of the Young and Indigenous 
• Through June 13, 2021
• Lightcatcher Courtyard | 250 Flora St.
  • Jac Trautman is a photographer and artist from Seattle and a member of the Duwamish tribe. In this series of seven photographs that incorporate splitting and projection techniques in their single-exposure frames, Trautman presents the various ways in which people project their idea of landscape onto the world. The subjects of his photographs are tribal youth of the Lummi Nation who collaborate with Children of the Setting Sun Productions to create the Young and Indigenous Podcast.

• Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence 
• April 3 – July 4, 2021
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St.
  • The story of women’s suffrage is a story of voting rights, of inclusion in and exclusion from the franchise, and of our civic development as a nation. This dynamic poster exhibition explores the complexity of the women’s suffrage movement and the relevance of this history to Americans’ lives today. This exhibition is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. This project received support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative.

Ongoing Exhibits

• People of the Sea and Cedar: A Journey Through the Tribal Cultures and History of the Northwest Coast
• Lightcatcher Building | 250 Flora St.
  • People of the Sea & Cedar shares the history and art of the Northwest Coast Native people, blending both historical and contemporary perspectives. View historic photographs and artifacts from the Museum’s collection, participate in hands-on learning experiences, listen to a Lummi language interactive, and watch videos showcasing Lummi and Nooksack weavers and carvers.

• John M. Edson Hall of Birds
• Old City Hall | 121 Prospect St.
  • Designed in collaboration with the North Cascades Audubon Society, the Hall of Birds features the Museum's founding collection of more than 500 mounted birds accompanied by interactive opportunities for visitors to learn about bird migration, conservation, habitat, and more.