As one of Bellingham’s best-known artists, Lanny Little has captured local imaginations with history-themed murals throughout the town. He had painted Washington towns from Friday Harbor to Long Beach throughout the 1980s before defining the landscape here.
“I’ve always been pretty good at art and all through my childhood, so it was kind of natural for me to eventually go to art school,” says Little. “So we moved over to Bellingham in like ’99. I had been working on various jobs for the museum and the Children’s Museum. I did a lot of work. My first big mural was at Holly and Bay. It was the Old Town mural. It was painted over after about 20 years of service when a new owner came along and bought the building.”
Little’s lost murals have sparked nostalgia as former landmarks and motivated efforts to preserve and appreciate his other surviving works.
Little Paints Bellingham
Many of Little’s murals have depicted historic sites of local or national significance and adorned Bellingham’s most notable buildings.
“Johannes Vermeer is my favorite artist of all time,” says Little. “When I visited Washington, D.C., when I was in my 20s, I got to see one of his paintings. I saw one when I was a kid living in Europe. I lived with my parents in Europe when I was a child, and I saw ‘The Milkmaid,’ which is my favorite painting. It’s an amazing painting. So Vermeer was my favorite painter, but I was able to go to art school and get a master’s degree. I didn’t paint modern stuff – I still wanted to be a realist. I’ve been a realist all that time.”
Little’s most famous remaining murals include the “Welcome to Fairhaven” sign at 911 Harris Avenue and the Fairhaven Village Green mural. Both depict local historical figures, and Fairhaven Village Green became a park in part because the Pickford Film Center and Fairhaven Association screened films over Little’s mural.
“That turned out to be a popular mural,” says Little. “It still is today, and it’s now 25 years old. I just got word that the new owner of the building is going to coat it with a clear coat varnish, which is going to make it live longer. If you keep taking care of it, it’ll just last forever.”
Remembering Little’s Lost Murals
While some murals await restoration, such as the 1230 Billy Frank Jr. Street piece featuring “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams, others are lost permanently.
“One of the ones that I kind of regret that was painted over when it didn’t have to be painted over was when the Crown Plaza building was sold to, I think, a Canadian firm,” says Little. “They wanted to do it in their image. So they decided they didn’t need a historical mural on the side. The mural on that was the Carnegie Library mural, and it was kind of up high, and they did it at night. It was kind of nice, I liked it. It was painted in 2006, so it had about a fifteen-year run.”
The former Old Town mural is fondly remembered, much like Rocket Donuts, which once stood behind it, disappearing like the glimpse of early Bellingham it depicted.
“It was very gratifying to have a community that was appreciative,” says Little. “Although the almighty dollar sometimes dictates that a mural won’t last forever, a lot of people have told me that they were sad when certain murals went down. They email me and say, ‘All right, that’s awful.’ But that’s the nature of the beast. They will all have to go someday.”
Exploring the ‘Ham with Hamsters
Lanny Little has retired from painting since developing a visual impairment and has enlisted the help of friends to restore murals. However, he continues his artistic pursuits through a YouTube channel showcasing local artists and Bellingham’s historical sites.
“I made videos of just places like trails and places in town and parks,” says Little. “Then I did a very gratifying work on the history of modern railroads in our part of the world and the Mount Baker Theater. I’m proud of that one, and that was well received. What I’m doing now is I’ve adopted these two hamsters. They’re little stuffed toys that I’ve made into puppets. I can manipulate them and animate them. So I take them every place and mostly on art adventures.”
Visitors to the Hotel Leo can also see Little’s paintings of historic Bellingham on the walls.
“The most rewarding part has been meeting people and just feeling part of the community because of my contribution and meeting a lot of nice, wonderful people,” says Little. “Because most of my murals were supported by people and businesses, not grants from any place. The city helped with a couple of them early on, the city loved them, but after that, it was all just directly from the people.”
You can follow Little’s work through his YouTube channel as he continues to present Bellingham’s art and history vividly to a curious audience.
