Whatcom Museum Summer 2022 Programs & Exhibitions

Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Thursdays and Saturdays, June 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, 18, 23, 25 & 30, 1 – 2 p.m. | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
Take a docent-led tour of Many Wests. Visitors can gain in-depth insights about the themes, artists, and works featured in this exhibition. Many Wests examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the West beyond how it is often narrowly represented in popular culture and through dominant historical narratives. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Curator Tour of Many Wests
Friday, June 3, 1 – 2pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
Learn more about the artists and artwork featured in Many Wests from the Museum’s Curator of Art, Amy Chaloupka, who organized this exhibition in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and three other art museums from the West. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Saturdays with the Symphony
Saturday, June 4, 2 – 3 PM | Family Interactive Gallery inside the Lightcatcher building
Included with Admission/Members Free
In collaboration with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and Bellingham Festival of Music, we are bringing music into the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG)! Our new summer series, Saturdays with the Symphony, focuses on kid-friendly performances the first Saturday of each month. Our guests will meet a musician, hear them play, and participate in a related art activity. It is a fabulous and fun way to introduce kids to the instruments that make up an orchestra. Today’s guest will be renowned guitar soloist Daniel Bolshoy. While a guitar in an orchestra sounds a little wild, Bolshoy will share about playing this instrument with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra.

Old City Hall History Tours
Sundays, June 5, 12, 19, & 26, 1 – 2pm | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members Free
We’re excited to bring back our weekly history tours of Old City Hall after a two-year hiatus! Take a fun, informative tour with our trained docents. They will take participants through the building and down to the basement of Old City Hall to see the historic jail rooms, including a padded cell from the days of prohibition. Our docents will give an overview about the architecture of the venerable building, as well as the history of the early days of Bellingham. Participants will learn fun facts, quirky trivia, and unique stories about some of the characters who worked in and visited the building. Tours last one hour and begin on the first-floor lobby of Old City Hall.

Youth Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Fridays, June 10, 17, & 24, 4 – 5pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
The Museum’s youth docent program features high-school students who are building skills and confidence in discussing art, culture, and current events through tours of Many Wests. Tours feature the unique perspectives of the teen docents, who share about the artwork that inspires them in the exhibition. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Inside/Outside Mask-Making Workshop
Saturday, June 11, Noon – 4pm | Lightcatcher building
$30 Non-Members/$25 Museum Members; Register at Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/322195133317)
We wear masks, both internal and external, to present ourselves to the world. Join artist Renee Sherrer of Social Fabric Art for this workshop inspired by Angela Ellsworth’s artwork, Seer Bonnets, in the Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea exhibition. In Ellsworth’s artwork, the external beauty of corsage pins contrasts with their dangerous points. While people try to put on a beautiful façade, everyone has sharp points inside. By crafting masks, we will explore the difference between our thoughts and identities versus the images we project. In this playful workshop you’ll work with Renee to create something both beautiful and dangerous in a safe environment. Supplies provided. Registration is limited to 12 participants.

Date Night: Bar Cicotti Dinner & Curator Tour of Many Wests
Tuesday, June 21, Dinner 5:30-6:50pm; Tour 7-8pm | Lightcatcher building
$70/person Non-members; $60/person Museum Members; Tickets on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/328994520467)
Enjoy a pre-fixe 3-course Italian dinner and glass of wine at Bar Cicotti inside the Lightcatcher building. Chef Jonathan Cicotti creates recipes rooted in his Italian family’s traditions from Cento in Northern Italy. After a tasty dinner, join Museum Curator of Art Amy Chaloupka in the Lightcatcher lobby to begin a tour of the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea. Chaloupka, who organized this exhibition in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and three other art museums from the West will share insights on specific artworks, artists, and themes in the show. Dinner and tours are limited to 20 people.

Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
Sunday, June 26, 1:30 – 3:30pm (Drop-In) | Old City Hall
Included with Admission/Members free
Join experts from the North Cascades Audubon Society in the John M. Edson Hall of Birds to learn about migration, conservation, birds in peril, and the importance of studying bird specimens today. The exhibit provides a variety of interactives, including video and audio files, and hands-on activities for children. All ages welcome.

Mindful Mondays: Yoga at the Museum
Mondays, June 27, July 25, & August 29, 5:30 – 6:30pm | Lightcatcher Courtyard
$20 per class Non-Members/$15 per class Museum Members; $50 For all three classes Non-Members/$35 For all three classes Museum Members; Register on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mindful-mondays-yoga-at-the-museum-tickets-322197390067)
Connect with nature and community during our summer yoga series. Join certified yogi, Elizabeth Ruff, for three engaging, one-hour long yoga sessions in the Lightcatcher Courtyard. Ruff’s classes are a perfect way to de-stress and re-center after a long day. Each month’s session will focus on a different body part to stretch and relax. In today’s class, we’ll celebrate summer with an energizing yoga flow focusing on shoulders and heart openers. All levels welcome! Participants need to bring their own yoga mat and water bottle.

History Sunset Cruises
Tuesday, June 28; Boards 6:15pm, Departs 6:30pm, Returns 8:30pm
Bellingham/Alaska Cruise Terminal | 355 Harris Ave.
$40 Non-Members/$35 Museum Members; Tickets available on Eventbrite.com June 1st
Climb aboard San Juan Cruises’ Victoria Star for our annual summertime History Sunset Cruises, hosted by local historian Brian Griffin. You’ll enjoy beautiful scenery and hear stories about the region’s history. Pack a picnic, sunglasses, and a light jacket. Wine and beer sold on board. Learn more at www.whatcommuseum.org/explore/history-sunset-cruise/.

Art Walk at the Lightcatcher
Friday, July 1, 5 – 9pm | Lightcatcher building
Free
Join us in the Lightcatcher for Downtown Art Walk. Check out the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, which features the work of 48 contemporary artists who portray different meanings and views of the West.

Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Thursdays and Saturdays, July 2, 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28 & 30, 1 – 2pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
Take a docent-led tour of Many Wests. Visitors can gain in-depth insights about the themes, artists, and works featured in this exhibition. Many Wests examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the West beyond how it is often narrowly represented in popular culture and through dominant historical narratives. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Saturdays with the Symphony
Saturday, July 2, 2 – 3pm | Family Interactive Gallery inside the Lightcatcher building
Included with Admission/Members Free
In collaboration with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and Bellingham Festival of Music, we are bringing music into the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG)! Saturdays with the Symphony focuses on kid-friendly performances the first Saturday of each month. Our guests will meet a musician, hear them play, and participate in a related art activity. It is a fabulous and fun way to introduce kids to the instruments that make up an orchestra. Today’s musician will talk about what whales and cellos have in common. Join Bellingham Festival of Music cellist Anne McCafferty as she shares about her cello and reads from the book A Symphony of Whales.

Old City Hall History Tours
Sundays, July 3, 10, 17, 24, & 31, 1 – 2pm | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members Free
Take a fun, informative tour with our trained docents. They will take participants through the building and down to the basement of Old City Hall to see the historic jail rooms, including a padded cell from the days of prohibition. Our docents will give an overview about the architecture of the venerable building, as well as the history of the early days of Bellingham. Participants will learn fun facts, quirky trivia, and unique stories about some of the characters who worked in and visited the building. Tours last one hour and begin on the first-floor lobby of Old City Hall.

History Sunset Cruises
Tuesdays, July 5, 12, 19, & 26; Boards 6:15pm, Departs 6:30pm, Returns 8:30pm Bellingham/Alaska Cruise Terminal | 355 Harris Ave.
$40 Non-Members/$35 Museum Members; Tickets available on Eventbrite.com June 1st
Climb aboard San Juan Cruises’ Victoria Star for our annual summertime History Sunset Cruises, hosted by local historian Brian Griffin. You’ll enjoy beautiful scenery and hear stories about the region’s history. Pack a picnic, sunglasses, and a light jacket. Wine and beer sold on board. Learn more at www.whatcommuseum.org/explore/history-sunset-cruise/.

Youth Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Fridays, July 8, 15, 22, & 29, 4 – 5pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
The Museum’s youth docent program features high-school students who are building skills and confidence in discussing art, culture, and current events through tours of Many Wests. Tours feature the unique perspectives of the teen docents, who share about the artwork that inspires them in the exhibition. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Date Night: Bar Cicotti Dinner & Curator Tour of Many Wests
Tuesday, July 19, Dinner 5:30-6:50pm; Tour 7-8pm | Lightcatcher building
$70/person Non-members; $60/person Museum Members; Tickets on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/328994520467)
Enjoy a pre-fixe 3-course Italian dinner and glass of wine at Bar Cicotti inside the Lightcatcher building. Chef Jonathan Cicotti creates recipes rooted in his Italian family’s traditions from Cento in Northern Italy. After a tasty dinner, join Museum Curator of Art Amy Chaloupka in the Lightcatcher lobby to begin a tour of the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea. Chaloupka, who organized this exhibition in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and three other art museums from the West will share insights on specific artworks, artists, and themes in the show. Dinner and tours are limited to 20 people.

Bellingham Festival of Music: Chamber Music Concert
Friday, July 22, Seating at 3:30pm; Concert 4 – 5pm | Old City Hall
Free
Join us for a free community chamber concert by musicians from the Bellingham Festival of Music Orchestra. Founded in 1993, BFM is the only summer festival in the region built around a virtuoso orchestra. Composed of outstanding musicians from major symphonies of North America, the festival’s mission is to make exceptional classical music accessible to everyone in our community.

Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
Sunday, July 24, 1:30 – 3:30pm (Drop-In) | Old City Hall
Included with Admission/ Members Free
Join experts from the North Cascades Audubon Society in the John M. Edson Hall of Birds to learn about migration, conservation, birds in peril, and the importance of studying bird specimens today. The exhibit provides a variety of interactives, including video and audio files, and hands-on activities for children. All ages welcome.

Mindful Mondays: Yoga at the Museum
Mondays, July 25, 5:30 – 6:30pm | Lightcatcher Courtyard $20 per class
Non-Members/$15 per class Museum Members; Register on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mindful-mondays-yoga-at-the-museum-tickets-322197390067)
Connect with nature and community during our summer yoga series. Join certified yogi, Elizabeth Ruff, for engaging, one-hour long yoga sessions in the Lightcatcher Courtyard. Ruff’s classes are a perfect way to de-stress and re-center after a long day. Each month’s session will focus on a different body part to stretch and relax. In today’s class, Ruff will lead a cool-down yoga flow with longer hip openers and forward folds, as well as grounding and calming poses to soothe participants. All levels welcome! Participants need to bring their own yoga mat and water bottle.

History Sunset Cruises
Tuesdays, August 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30; Boards 6:15pm, Departs 6:30pm, Returns 8:30pm
Bellingham/Alaska Cruise Terminal | 355 Harris Ave.
$40 Non-Members/$35 Museum Members; Tickets available on Eventbrite.com June 1st
Climb aboard San Juan Cruises’ Victoria Star for our annual summertime History Sunset Cruises, hosted by local historian Brian Griffin. You’ll enjoy beautiful scenery and hear stories about the region’s history. Pack a picnic, sunglasses, and a light jacket. Wine and beer sold on board. Learn more at www.whatcommuseum.org/explore/history-sunset-cruise/.

Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Thursdays and Saturdays, August 4, 6, 11, 13, 18, & 20, 1 – 2pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
Take a docent-led tour of Many Wests. Visitors can gain in-depth insights about the themes, artists, and works featured in this exhibition. Many Wests examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the West beyond how it is often narrowly represented in popular culture and through dominant historical narratives. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Saturdays with the Symphony
Saturday, August 6, 2 – 3pm | Family Interactive Gallery Inside the Lightcatcher building
Included with Admission/Members Free
In collaboration with the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra and Bellingham Festival of Music, we are bringing music into the Family Interactive Gallery (FIG)! Saturdays with the Symphony focuses on kid-friendly performances. Our guests will meet a musician, hear them play, and participate in a related art activity. It is a fabulous and fun way to introduce kids to the instruments that make up an orchestra. Today, learn about women composers with Bellingham Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Dawn Posey. Posey will share about leading the orchestra and her violin. In addition, she will play some amazing pieces by women composers.

Old City Hall History Tours
Sundays, August 7, 14, 21, & 28, 1 – 2pm | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members Free
Take a fun, informative tour with our trained docents. They will take participants through the building and down to the basement of Old City Hall to see the historic jail rooms, including a padded cell from the days of prohibition. Our docents will give an overview about the architecture of the venerable building, as well as the history of the early days of Bellingham. Participants will learn fun facts, quirky trivia, and unique stories about some of the characters who worked in and visited the building. Tours last one hour and begin on the first-floor lobby of Old City Hall.

Youth Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Fridays, August 12 & 19, 4 – 5pm | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
The Museum’s youth docent program features high-school students who are building skills and confidence in discussing art, culture, and current events through tours of Many Wests. Tours feature the unique perspectives of the teen docents, who share about the artwork that inspires them in the exhibition. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour.

Memory Embroidery Workshop
Sunday, August 14, Noon – 4pm | Lightcatcher building
$20 Non-Members/$15 Museum Members; Register at Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/322216025807)
Enliven your photographs and try your hand at embroidery in this workshop inspired by artist Marie Watt’s artwork Witness (Quamichan Potlach 1913) on display in the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea. To create Witness, Watt was inspired by a photograph of a potlach, embroidering the image onto a Hudson’s Bay blanket. For our workshop, use images that inspire you! Bring your own photographs or use one of ours and transform them into a one-of-a-kind keepsake through needlepoint and beading. Supplies provided. This workshop is designed for ages 13 and older. Registration is limited to 12 participants.

Date Night: Bar Cicotti Dinner & Curator Tour of Many Wests
Tuesday, August 16, Dinner 5:30-6:50pm; Tour 7-8pm | Lightcatcher building
$70/person Non-members; $60/person Museum Members; Tickets on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/328994520467)
Enjoy a pre-fixe 3-course Italian dinner and glass of wine at Bar Cicotti inside the Lightcatcher building. Chef Jonathan Cicotti creates recipes rooted in his Italian family’s traditions from Cento in Northern Italy. After a tasty dinner, join Museum Curator of Art Amy Chaloupka in the Lightcatcher lobby to begin a tour of the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea. Chaloupka, who organized this exhibition in collaboration with the Smithsonian American Art Museum and three other art museums from the West will share insights on specific artworks, artists, and themes in the show. Dinner and tours are limited to 20 people.

Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
Sunday, August 28, 1:30 – 3:30pm (Drop-In) | Old City Hall
Included with Admission/Members Free
Join experts from the North Cascades Audubon Society in the John M. Edson Hall of Birds to learn about migration, conservation, birds in peril, and the importance of studying bird specimens today. The exhibit provides a variety of interactives, including video and audio files, and hands-on activities for children. All ages welcome.

Mindful Mondays: Yoga at the Museum
Monday, August 29, 5:30 – 6:30pm | Lightcatcher Courtyard
$20 Non-Members/$15 Museum Members; Register on Eventbrite.com (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mindful-mondays-yoga-at-the-museum-tickets-322197390067)
Join certified yogi, Elizabeth Ruff, for an engaging, one-hour long yoga session in the Lightcatcher Courtyard. Ruff’s class is the perfect way to de-stress and re-center after a long day. Transition to school with a twist! This month’s class will focus on twists and breath work to keep steady focus as rhythms start to shift for fall. Ruff will be your guide on this all-level yoga flow. Participants need to bring their own yoga mat and water bottle.

All Is Not Lost
Through August 14, 2022 | Old City Hall
Hundreds of glass negatives have been donated to the Whatcom Museum, often arriving in a damaged condition after decades of poor storage and rough handling. The pictures in this exhibition are deliberately featured with their accumulation of scratches, cracks, lost corners, mold stains, and water damage. Though marred, time ravaged negatives can still render images of historical significance.

Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Through August 21, 2022 | Lightcatcher building
Many Wests examines the perspectives of 48 modern and contemporary artists who offer a broader and more inclusive view of the West beyond how it is often narrowly represented in popular culture and through dominant historical narratives. This exhibition presents opportunities 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.

Many Wests is organized and drawn from the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Boise Art Museum, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and the Whatcom Museum. This exhibition 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. Doorways: Photographs by Jac Trautman Through August 21, 2022 | Lightcatcher building We are thrilled to bring back the photography of Seattle artist Jac Trautman, a member of the Duwamish Tribe. In 2021, Trautman presented a series of seven photographs taken as a single exposure with multiple projected images contained within. The works drew attention to the concepts of splitting and projection and their role in the history of interactions with the colonizer and the colonized. This exhibit features four new large-scale photographs on display in the Museum's Lightcatcher entry hall.

Doorways: Photographs by Jac Trautman
Through August 21, 2022 | Lightcatcher building
We are thrilled to bring back the photography of Seattle artist Jac Trautman, a member of the Duwamish Tribe. In 2021, Trautman presented a series of seven photographs taken as a single exposure with multiple projected images contained within. The works drew attention to the concepts of splitting and projection and their role in the history of interactions with the colonizer and the colonized. This exhibit features four new large-scale photographs on display in the Museum's Lightcatcher entry hall.

Not One of the Boys: The Psychedelic Posters of Bonnie MacLean
Through November 20, 2022 | Old City Hall
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.

The Scene: A Journey Through Bellingham’s Musical Past
May 21 – November 20, 2022 | Old City Hall
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.”

John M. Edson Hall of Birds Ongoing | Old City Hall
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.

People of the Sea and Cedar: A Journey Through the Tribal Cultures and History of the Northwest Coast Ongoing | Lightcatcher Building
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.