9,000 Votes, Four Winners and Three New Murals: Noisy Waters Mural Festival Announces 2026 Winners
The 2026 Noisy Waters Mural Festival wrapped Sunday, August 16, after three days of live painting, music, workshops, markets, mural tours, and community celebration at the Portal Container Village on Bellingham’s waterfront. The fourth annual festival drew over 7,000 people together to experience art in the making, connect with artists and neighbors, and take part in shaping the future of public art in Bellingham.
One of the weekend’s biggest moments came through the festival’s mural voting, with nearly 9,000 votes cast to select the artists who will go on to create Bellingham’s next permanent large-scale murals. Eight visiting muralists transformed blank 8-by-8-foot walls into original works throughout the weekend, while the Indigeversal Collective brought Indigenous artists together for collaboration, mentorship, and shared artistic practice.
Four muralists were selected through the public vote. The top three received permanent prize walls, while the fourth-place artist received a cash prize.
Grand Prize Winner — Catie Michel, Denver, Colorado, received a $22,500 prize wall sponsored by Samish Station at 109 N. Samish Way.
First Place Winner — Jessa Gilbert, Squamish, British Columbia, received a $17,500 prize wall sponsored by Ohio Street Properties at 345 Ohio Street.
Second Place Winner — Oak Bloak (Max Coleman), Denver, Colorado, received a $10,000 prize wall sponsored by Bellingham Dental Group at 1117 Ellis Street.
Third Place Winner — Wayward Walls (Jason Harvin), Gibsonton, Florida, received a $1,000 cash prize.
The three prize-wall recipients will return to Bellingham to create permanent large-scale murals, with installations planned for spring and summer 2027. The winning artists were selected through community voting throughout the festival, continuing Noisy Waters’ mission of putting the public at the center of Bellingham’s evolving mural landscape.
“Creating art is often a very solitary endeavor,” said Oak Bloak (Max Coleman), second place winner. “It's been such a joy getting to do what I love most with all of these new friends whom I’ve made and to see the work interact with the public in real time. The most important thing to do with a creation once you’ve made it is to set it free into the world. I’m so happy that I’m going to have the opportunity to do so with my work in this town, which has become a very treasured place to me very quickly. I’m deeply grateful.”
Grand Prize winner Catie Michel’s mural features a wolf surrounded by native plants and wildlife, a piece that resonated deeply with the Noisy Waters community. During the festival, one attendee admired the salal leaves Michel painted, noting that the small bites left by bugs were a sign of a healthy plant—one that provided good nourishment for its surrounding ecosystem.
The observation inspired Michel to reflect on the larger spirit of the festival: “I feel like this festival is the salal and all of us are the bugs, getting goodness, joy, nourishment, humor, and color. This has been such a life changing event for me. The interconnections here are really amazing and pretty endless. These artists are my idols and I can’t believe we got to work alongside each other in such a beautiful place.”
To close the awards ceremony, Michel invited the crowd to join her in a collective “howl,” celebrating the wolf they had watched emerge over the course of the weekend.
Bringing New Voices to Bellingham’s Public Art Scene
Each of the eight visiting artists brought a distinct visual language and perspective to the festival:
Catie Michel is a Denver-based muralist, science illustrator, and naturalist whose work explores connection, access, advocacy, and the intersection of science and art. Her background in field research and science communication informs her collaborative approach to public art.
Megan Lingerfelt, based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, creates layered, color-driven compositions inspired by native plants, architectural forms, natural light, and the relationship between built and natural environments.
Oak Bloak (Max Coleman) is a Denver artist and RISD-trained painter and illustrator whose work uses unconventional portraiture, dazzling color, and historical visual techniques to explore contemporary narratives. His murals create spaces for reflection while drawing on his fascination with science and the natural world.
Patrick Maxcy, a painter, muralist, illustrator, and adventurer from Fleming Island, Florida, creates whimsical, animal-centered work inspired by nature, travel, wildlife, and the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Savannah LeCornu, a self-taught artist from Ketchikan, Alaska, is Tsimshian, Haida, and Nez Perce. Her work draws from formline and Plateau art traditions to create contemporary, accessible artwork that celebrates Indigenous peoples and challenges preconceived notions.
SENHOR (Tomás Richter) traveled from Lisbon, Portugal, bringing more than a decade of experience in street art, illustration, animation, graphic design, and set design. His work combines urban aesthetics, comic art, nature, and visual storytelling.
Jessa Gilbert, from Squamish, British Columbia, creates paintings and drawings inspired by the backcountry, adventure, and moments of awe in the wild. Her work explores movement, time, and the joy of being outdoors.
Wayward Walls (Jason Harvin), based in Gibsonton, Florida, creates bold, story-driven murals that combine street-art energy with fine-art detail. His work explores movement, culture, connection, and the transformation of everyday spaces.
Sharing Cultural Knowledge Through Indigenous Artistic Traditions
The Indigeversal Collective brings together Indigenous artists from across North America to collaborate and mentor one another through murals, creating a space to connect, learn from one another, and share artistic knowledge across generations. The Collective has been an important part of Noisy Waters since 2023, bringing its collaborative practice and Indigenous perspectives to the festival’s public art programming.
The 2026 Indigeversal Collective included Kaplan Bunce (Apache Nation), Jason LaClair (Lummi Nation and Nooksack), Sophia Jackson (Quechan, Dine, and San Juan Southern Paiute), Thayne Yazzie (Navajo, Cherokee, and Mohawk), and Isabella Conover, a Bellingham-based artist who works in Coast Salish Territory. Together, the artists created a collaborative mural rooted in Indigenous visual language and storytelling.
Since 2023, the Indigeversal Collective’s murals have been created by each artist drawing symbols from the visual language of their ancestors. Indigeversal Collective founder Kaplan Bunce then weaves these individual elements into a unified composition, creating a shared work that honors the artists’ individual cultural traditions while reflecting the strength of collective expression.
“I thought of this as a way to uplift and magnify Indigenous voices in art globally,” said Bunce. “It's a global initiative to share knowledge, to create networking opportunities, and to have a good time with all of us painting.”
“I’ve been painting for about four years with Paper Whale,” said Indigeversal Collective artist Thayne Yazzie. “I like to think of them like the sun. They give us energy and we can use it as fuel to make more art.”
The Indigeversal Collective has become an enduring part of Noisy Waters and Bellingham’s public art landscape since 2023, which marked the first mural experience for more than half of the participating artists. The inaugural artists have since returned as mentors to new and emerging muralists. Today, Bellingham is home to three permanent Indigeversal Collective murals created through Noisy Waters.
The 2026 Indigeversal Collective mural will be installed at Paper Whale’s new Bellingham headquarters, its location announced at a later date.
See and Bid on the Murals at the Whatcom Lightcatcher Museum
The 8-by-8-foot murals are now on display at Whatcom Museum at The Lightcatcher in Bellingham and available to bid on through September 18 as part of the Noisy Art Auction. Art lovers can see the works in person and bid to take home an original piece of the 2026 festival.
Created specifically for the live competition, the large-scale works are designed for outdoor display. One hundred percent of auction proceeds support the annual Noisy Waters Mural Festival, helping keep the festival free to the public while supporting the continued growth of public art in Bellingham.
Visit the 2026 Noisy Art Auction webpage.
Creating Future Opportunities
The 2026 festival may be over, but its work is just beginning. In the year ahead, Noisy Waters and Paper Whale will continue creating opportunities for artists to bring public art to Bellingham, while building connections between artists, local communities and the places they call home.
Noisy Waters Mural Festival is produced by Paper Whale, a Bellingham-based arts organization that creates opportunities for artists and brings public art into communities.
For more information about Noisy Waters, the artists, and upcoming mural installations, visit the Noisy Waters Mural Festival website.
About Paper Whale
Paper Whale, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has been activating underutilized spaces in Bellingham since 2022 with a goal to cultivate community by producing multi-sensory events that inspire and creatively activate placemaking. Learn more and get involved at paper-whale.com.
