March - April 2022 Programs & Exhibitions at the Whatcom Museum

March:

Travelogue: Exploring Western India from the Saddle of a Royal Enfield Motorcycle
Thursday, March 17, 7–9 p.m. | Old City Hall & Virtual
$5 suggested donation/Members free
Vanessa Haycock will share stories from three months of breathtaking and mind-blowing adventures through Rajasthan, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, and Delhi. The talk will include details of a “run-in” with the Pakistan border police, unforeseen desert riding challenges, interesting animals, bike problems in bad places, the issue of being a woman on a motorcycle in remote corners of India, and more. Co-presented by Bellingham Parks & Recreation.

Many Wests Print-Making Activity
Saturday, March 19, Noon–3 p.m. | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
Join us in celebrating both the opening of Many Wests and Women’s History Month by creating your own print inspired by Barbara Earl Thomas’s art. After exploring Thomas’s linocut prints in the exhibition, meet us in the Lightcatcher art studio to create a print of your own. We’ll be using foam and print-making supplies to create a printing block you can take home and use over again. Open to everyone, this activity is a great way to discover a new artistic approach while exploring the technique behind Barbara Earl Thomas’s stunning prints.

Docent Tours of Many Wests : Artists Shape an American Idea
Thursdays and Saturdays, 1–2 p.m. beginning March 24 | 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. Docent tours are on a walk-in basis and no longer require pre-registration. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour. Participants will need to wear face coverings while visiting the Museum and participating in the tour.

Youth Docent Tours of Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
Fridays, 4–5 p.m. beginning March 25 | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
This spring, the Museum will debut a youth docent program involving high-school students who will build skills and confidence in discussing art, culture, and current events through tours of Many Wests. Tours will feature the unique perspectives of the youth docents, who will share about the artwork that inspires them in the exhibition. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour. Participants will need to wear face coverings while visiting the Museum and participating in the tour.

No Planet B: Paper Mâché Sculpting Workshop for Kids
Saturday, March 26 and Saturday, April 2, 1–3 p.m. | Lightcatcher building
$5 Museum members/$10 Non-members
Register at Eventbrite
As part of the Museum’s Earth Day initiatives, we want to create an enormous globe, and we’re inviting kids to learn with us! Suzanne Mackay and Keefe Healy, puppeteers, and founders of Firefly Productions, will be lending their expertise in crafting paper mâché to teach students about making structures from recycled materials. Participants will contribute to creating a huge globe that will be on display in the Lightcatcher building, as well as make something to take home. This is a two-part workshop designed for children ages 8-14. Registration is limited to 15 participants. Masks are required throughout the workshops.

North Cascades Audubon Society
Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
Sunday, March 27, 1–3 p.m. (drop-in) | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members free
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.

North Cascades Audubon Society
The Surprising, Secret Lives of Beavers and Why They Matter
Tuesday, March 29, 7–9 p.m. | Virtual Only via Zoom
Register online
Environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb reveals how our conception of a healthy ecosystem is wrong, distorted by the fur trade that trapped out millions of beavers from North America’s waterways. The consequences of losing beavers were profound: ponds drained, wetlands dried up, and species from salmon to swans lost vital habitat. Today, a coalition of “Beaver Believers” recognize that ecosystems with beavers are far healthier than those without them. Believers are hard at work restoring these rodents to their former haunts. In his talk, Ben will discuss how beavers can help us fight drought, flooding, wildfire, and climate change; and how we can coexist with this vital rodent. This program will only be offered virtually via Zoom.

April:

Curator Tour of Many Wests
Friday, April 1, 1–2 p.m. | 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. Curator tours are on a walk-in basis and no longer require pre-registration. Tours begin in the lobby of the Lightcatcher and last one hour. Participants will need to wear face coverings while visiting the Museum and participating in the tour.

Fairhaven Hotel: Anecdotes from the Archivist
Thursdays, April 7, 14, 21, & 28, 4–5 p.m. | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members free
Register on WaitWhile
Back by popular demand now that the exhibit has been extended! Join Photo Archivist Jeff Jewell for a discussion and tour of The Fairhaven Hotel exhibit at Old City Hall. Learn the history of one of Fairhaven’s most renowned buildings. Each tour lasts an hour and is limited to 10 people per tour. Pre-registration is encouraged.

Animals Across the Earth
Thursday–Sunday, April 7–10 and 14–17, Noon–5 p.m. | Lightcatcher building
Included with admission/Members free
The Earth is home to us all, and we need your help to give it a proper celebration! Leading up to Earth Day on April 22, we’ll have a massive paper mâché planet in the Lightcatcher building. Our world is full of wonderful and unique animals, and that’s where you come in. Join us in the FIG to make or color an animal, and then add it to our huge globe. By April 22, we hope to see an amazing variety of life spread throughout the globe, just like in real life.

North Cascades Audubon Society
Fourth Sundays: Audubon at the Museum
Sunday, April 24, 1–3 p.m. (drop-in) | Old City Hall
Included with admission/Members free
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.

North Cascades Audubon Society
Birds Tell Us
Tuesday, April 26, 7–9 p.m. | Old City Hall & Virtual
$5 suggested donation/Members free
Hear from Deborah Jensen, PhD, the executive director of Audubon Washington, as she shares insights from the state’s National Audubon Society office and its 25 affiliated chapters. Working together to conserve birds and their habitat, Audubon Washington’s current priorities are on coasts, especially Puget Sound, climate policy and smart energy siting, shrub-steppe ecosystems of Eastern Washington, and Seward Park Audubon Center programs that serve the diverse needs of the community through science, outdoor exploration, and education. The Audubon will require proof of vaccination to attend this program in-person. Please bring your vaccination card or a photo of it. A livestream of this presentation will be broadcast on the Museum’s YouTube channel.

EXHIBITIONS:

Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
March 19–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.

The Fairhaven Hotel
Extended through May 8, 2022 | Old City Hall
In 1890, the Fairhaven Hotel embodied the posh sophistication that the booming city of Fairhaven wished to project. Yet, with the collapse of the economy in 1893, the hotel soon symbolized Fairhaven’s failed dreams and false promises. Historical photographs, along with surviving hotel treasures curated from the Museum’s collection, will follow the hotel from glorious beginning to smoldering ruin.

Artists x Artists
Through May 8, 2022 | Old City Hall
This exhibition explores intimate portraits of artists by artists. Some artists turn the camera on themselves or depict friends and colleagues in their work. The exhibition draws from the Museum’s permanent collection and presents a variety of expressive gazes.

All Is Not Lost
Through August 14, 2022 | Old City Hall
We are bringing this exhibit back, but to Old City Hall, for another opportunity to enjoy and appreciate these unique images! 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.

People of the Sea and Cedar: A Journey Through the Tribal Cultures and History of the Northwest Coast
Lightcatcher building | Ongoing
People of the Sea and Cedar shares the history and art of the Northwest Coast Native people, blending both historical and contemporary perspectives. View historic photographs and artifacts, participate in hands-on learning experiences, listen to a Lummi language interactive, and more.

John M. Edson Hall of Birds
Old City Hall | Ongoing
Designed in collaboration with the North Cascades Audubon Society, the Hall of Birds features the Museum's collection of more than 500 mounted birds accompanied by interactive opportunities.