Whatcom County teen artists Abbey Drury and Nirmal Nair stand in front of their art and display Whatcomics 2014 at the 2014 Teen Art Show
Love to draw or doodle? Teens from across Whatcom County are invited to submit their original art for publication in “Whatcomics,” a teen art book published annually by the Whatcom County Library System.
“Teens don’t need to consider themselves to be an artist to participate,” says Teen Coordinator, Tamar Clarke. “The beauty of this book is the variety of artwork and styles that showcases each artist’s personality and creativity.”
There are few requirements for submission. Teens must be live in Whatcom County, be in grades 6-12 and submit original art on unlined 8.5 x11 paper. Digitally-generated art and team entries are welcomed. Teens can drop off their artwork at any public library or upload and submit online at WCLS.org/teen-art. Entries are due by October 31, 2015.
Each artist whose work is accepted for publication will receive a copy of the book, which is also distributed to libraries and schools county-wide. The original art work will be framed and on exhibit at the Lynden Library beginning Thursday, December 10 with a reception from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Those who miss opening night can still see the art on exhibit in the Lynden Library meeting room throughout the month of December. Or, just check out the book; “Whatcomics 2015” will be released in January and available for check out anytime at wcls.org.
Dress up the kids for a fun-filled trick or treat in Ferndale.
Put your best costume on and join us for the best trick or treating experience in Ferndale!
This free, fun and safe outdoor Downtown Trick or Treat event takes place on October 31 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. along Main Street in Ferndale and is expected attract at least 700 children from all over Whatcom County.
With more than 40 stops at local businesses marked by balloons and signs, there will be plenty of candy to go around.
Maps can be picked up at the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, located at 2007 Cherry Street in Ferndale, Ferndale Mini Mart located at 2085 Main Street and at the Ferndale Public Library located at 2125 Main Street.
And it doesn’t end after Downtown Trick or Treat! The Ferndale Chamber of Commerce and Ferndale Heritage Society are proud to present Haunt the Park from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., directly after Downtown Trick or Treat.
We encourage the community to come down to Pioneer Park, 2004 Cherry Street, and sip from the cauldron, play pumpkin corn hole, trick or treat the historic cabins and take the opportunity to snoop around the historic haunted houses of Pioneer Park. This is a free community event that will feature activities for all ages.
Fringe Boutique invites the public to celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, October 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Bellingham native Rhiannon Troutman opens Fringe, a new women’s boutique on the ground floor of the historic Herald Building at 1147 N State Street between Rock and Rye and Cosmos Bistro. There will be a Grand Opening party Saturday, October 24, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. All are welcome to stop by, shop, and check out the new space.
Fringe will carry women’s clothing for work and play with a boho chic twist; jewelry, including sterling silver and semi-precious stone as well as hand made pieces; fashion accessories such as handbags and scarves; and gifts and items for the home like throw blankets, pendant lights, glassware, and body products. Fringe looks forward to working with many local artisans to represent and sell their products.
Owner Rhiannon Troutman has worked at and managed many retail shops in Portland, OR and Downtown Bellingham over the past decade, including Passionfly Clothing Exchange, Black Market Boutique, Sojourn, Mi Shoes, and Naked Clothing. Troutman is passionate about dressing others and helping women find their own comfortable style. She will offer personal shopping and styling to any customer who walks through her doors, and would love to help you put together an outfit for a special event or find the perfect gift for a loved one. Troutman is excited to join the Downtown Bellingham community as a business owner and be a part of new growth. For more information visit www.wearfringe.com or follow @wearfringe on Twitter.
Paul Lachapelle underscores the importance of a well-designed, expertly fabricated and installed sign -- as well as how often a business should update them: “If you don’t make a major change to your sign or appearance every five years, you’ll disappear and blend into the landscape.”
Paul Lachapelle underscores the importance of a well-designed, expertly fabricated and installed sign — as well as how often a business should update them: “If you don’t make a major change to your sign or appearance every five years, you’ll disappear and blend into the landscape.”
We see signage everywhere we go, every single day. Walking, driving, sitting in traffic, searching or not: signs let us know where we are, where to go, and often things we didn’t realize we wanted – or needed – to know.
Paul Lachapelle is the Operations Manager at Signs Plus, the Bellingham company that’s been producing many of our area’s most innovative, eye-catching signs since 1992.
From the outdoor signs to each individual room number, the Signs Plus team was deep in the process of designing, fabricating and preparing to install hundreds of signs at the Lakeway Drive hotel.
“There are hundreds if not thousands of details in every job,” Paul says, as we look over a work bench covered in small acrylic squares that have been masked off, painted, and finished with raised room numbers and corresponding Braille.
“I’ve been doing this so long, I can smell a potential problem a mile away,” he says. By nature of the business, issues crop up often, and it’s Paul’s job to anticipate them or work to fix them.
“Fortunately, we very rarely have to do something twice,” Paul says of the stellar Signs Plus track record. “Proper communication, planning and execution are key to our company’s success.”
Signs Plus uses many technologies that weren’t available just a few years ago, including a laser cutter that gives these acrylic room number signs beautiful, polished edges, and a machine that imprints tactile Braille onto each square.
Paul is quick to point out that what Signs Plus does is a team effort. “We’re blessed to have a group of extremely talented people, from the manufacturing departments to the design, sales and office staff – and, of course, the installation crews. These people do the impossible on a daily basis.”
One of Paul’s many tasks on the day of my visit was translating a spec plan’s colors to paint, so elements of a lighted sign being installed on the side of the Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham hotel would be a perfect match across all of the project’s different signs, made of different materials.
Paul walks me to a large production area in a different building on the property, where several men are hard at work creating the steel frame for a free-standing, outdoor Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham sign that will be 12 ½ feet high and 16 feet wide.
“You’re going to drive by this on I-5 and it will just look like a little sign,” Paul says. “It’s not really very big¾but of course it is.”
In comparison to other Signs Plus projects, the Four Points by Sheraton Bellingham signs aren’t massive¾they created and installed an outdoor sign for Seattle Premium Outlets that looms 90 feet up in the air and is 40 feet long by 30 feet tall. But standing next to the frame for this particular sign, it’s still mighty impressive.
“This sign is probably going to weigh about 3,000 pounds,” Paul says, and then explains some of the technical details behind it, including its flex-face, tensioning system and how the new portion of the structure will sleeve into the existing 14-inch pipe.
“If you drive coast to coast from here to New York City, what do you see more than anything else, other than the landscape? It’s the signs. And we’re changing the landscape of America, one sign at a time,” says Paul Lachapelle.
“You can build the same sign five or ten different ways,” Paul explains. “I take all the different methods I’ve learned and find the best approach for every project.”
The day before installation of the outdoor signs is set to begin, Paul and his team hit a snag.
“We went to dig the foundation for one of the free-standing signs and hit solid sandstone,” he says. “That stops us dead.”
Paul has worked through hundreds of projects, so nothing seems to phase (or surprise) him. After a quick call to their structural engineer, new drawings were created by the permit department and re-submitted to the city, rebar cages were built and bolts secured into the sandstone with epoxy, and the excavator returned to finish the job – all done by the next day.
“It’s the kind of thing that happens almost on a daily basis in the sign business,” Paul says of this problem and the myriad of other issues that his team tackles on every project.
The next day, the Signs Plus team installed the sign and finished the job without further issue.
“Our group always pulls together and makes it happen,” Paul says. “Everybody works well under pressure here.”
In fact, Paul wonders out loud if the Signs Plus team might prefer those unexpected problems that must be worked out immediately.
“I think a lot of us here are a bit bored when there’s not some sort of a heart attack going on,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a rush and gets the adrenaline going.”
In this case, like so many hundreds before it, Signs Plus completed the project successfully. “All the planets had to align – the engineers, the city, the excavator, and our team,” Paul says. “And it’s a beautiful thing when that happens.”
To contact Signs Plus for your next project, call 360-671-7165 or visit www.signsplusnw.com.
Michael Grazier, Emma Gilmore, Genia Fuller, and Brian Gilmore are shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April, 2015. Emma, 13, worked as production assistant with her dad, and they are now collaborating on a new film project.
By Lauren Fritzen
With his soft-spoken, unpretentious demeanor, you might not guess that Brian Gilmore has a lot of passions. But this year three of his lifelong pursuits – helping kids, skiing, and filmmaking – have earned him some well-deserved recognition.
Brian’s passion for skiing may be part of his DNA. Growing up in Michigan during the 1960s, he learned to ski not long after learning to walk. “Both excellent skiers, my wonderful parents instilled in me a strong love for skiing at a very early age. I am forever grateful for the gift of season memberships, trips out West, equipment, and lessons during my childhood,” he writes in a blog post.
What really caught Brian’s imagination were the skiers breaking from tradition and pushing themselves to unheard-of limits of aerial acrobatics and creative expression: the hot doggers. These pioneers of freestyle skiing were his childhood champions. “Wayne Wong, Eddie Ferguson, and Scott Brooksbank were my heroes. My buddies and I spent countless hours skiing from jump to jump, trying to emulate them and outdo the older high school kids,” he recalls.
Michael Grazier, Emma Gilmore, Genia Fuller, and Brian Gilmore are shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival in April, 2015. Emma, 13, worked as production assistant with her dad, and they are now collaborating on a new film project.
In his early teens, he attended a ski camp at Whistler, B.C., where he was coached by these same skiers. “Wayne and the other hot doggers taught these camps every year. It was their way of giving back. They were very accessible people,” says Brian.
During his college years, Brian focused his passion on filmmaking, attending Boston University’s graduate program for film production. But he felt more at home in the mountains and during the summers he began working at a youth wilderness program in New Hampshire. Deciding to leave film school, he spent the winters as a ski instructor and continued working with disadvantaged youth every summer. As his career path shifted away from filmmaking, he eventually earned his master’s degree in school counseling, and settled with his family in Bellingham.
After working for the Nooksack Valley School District and Bellingham Public Schools as a counselor, Brian was laid off due to budget cuts in 2009. He decided to use the time to return to his earlier passion of filmmaking. “I always had a dream of making a film, and getting into a film festival,” he says. And with the goal to make a short documentary about the first U.S. hot dogger competition in1971, True Grit Productions was born.
Brian contacted Wayne Wong, who remembered his youthful enthusiasm from ski camp. Wong loved the idea of the film, but encouraged Brian to widen his scope and tell the whole story of the sport’s beginnings. Over the next three years, Brian interviewed more than 30 of the original hot doggers. He also found archival footage from some of the early competitions, and with the help of fellow filmmaker Caleb Young, began producing Dog Days of Winter: the Birth & Boom of Freestyle Skiing.
Brian Gilmore with pioneer freestyle skier Wayne Wong, circa 1978. Wong later encouraged him to make a film about the history of freestyle skiing.
In the meantime, Brian returned to work, eventually becoming the counselor at Silver Beach Elementary. Progress on the film slowed, but he kept editing in his spare time and on December 8, 2014, the Pickford Film Center held a pre-release screening of Dog Days of Winter. It was an instant hit with the sold-out house. His interviews with the original hot doggers are nostalgic, entertaining, and inspiring. The film not only tells the story of the sport, it captures the overall freestyle spirit of the era.
In the year since its pre-release, Dog Days of Winter has been selected at several film festivals, including Newport Beach, Sun Valley, and Whistler. It’s also in the line-up at our own Doctober Film Festival at the Pickford, screening on Sunday, October 11 at 5:00 p.m. Brian’s thrilled to have another showing in town. “The Pickford’s been great. They’re supporting other local filmmakers too. The Doctober line up is wonderful, and it’s really cool to see our film in there too.”
Dog Days of Winter won the 2014 International Skiing History Association’s Film Award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Historical Record of Skiing” and continues to be selected for film festivals across the country and in Canada.
Dogs Days of Winter, selected at numerous film festivals in the U.S. and Canada, is part of the Doctober line-up at the Pickford Film Center.
But there was another award that Brian didn’t see coming, and it has nothing to do with his film. In March of this year, he was named the Bellingham School Districtwide Staff Member of the Year. These excerpts from the district’s Promise Award announcement speak volumes about Brian’s passion for his work: “Through his role as a counselor, Brian Gilmore shows he deeply cares for, respects and loves all of the children at Silver Beach. Brian helps children learn how to set goals, be self-reflective and discover their strengths. Brian does his work quietly, without desire for recognition; always calm, thoughtful and reflective.”
The students and parents at Silver Beach can rest assured that Brian has no intention of quitting his day job for the life of a filmmaker. As licensing and release details for Dog Daysof Winter are being worked out, Brian looks ahead to future film projects, most likely in support of youth programs. Sounds like yet another winning combination of passionate pursuits.
The screening details for Dog Days of Winter at the Pickford Film Center, Sunday, October 11, 5:00 p.m. can be found on the Pickford Film Center website.
HonorWorks -Native American Heritage Day Concert $500
Kendall Elementary -Shoes/socks for low?income students $1,000
Kulshan Community Land Trust -Homeownership programs $1,000
Love, INC -Financial coaching program $1,000
Lydia Place -Transitional Housing Program $1,000
Lynden Raspberry Festival -Lynden Raspberry Festival 5k $160
Baker Imaging -Mammography sponsorship $270
Northwest Youth Services -Vocational Readiness Program $2,500
Opportunity Council -50th Anniversary Event?Early Learning Video $2,500
Opportunity Council -Stuff the Bus School Supply Drive support $1,000
RE Sources -REvision Division $1,000
Scholarships -3 different scholarships for a total of $3,000
Whatcom Middle School -Special Needs and At?Risk program $500
Work Opportunities -Run, Walk & Roll 5k fundraiser $650
WECU has a strong commitment to the needs of our community. We strive to support education, health and community concerns.
Requests for monetary donations must be made through an application process. The next deadline is November 6, 2015. Applications and further information about the Social Responsibility Committee is available at www.wecu.com or by contacting Maya Hartford by email at maya.hartford@wecu.com.
With over 76,500 members, WECU is Whatcom County’s largest member-focused, nonprofit financial cooperative, serving all residents of Whatcom County.
Pecan, apple and pumpkin pie hit any fall sweet tooth craving.
The Mount Bakery Café is excited to bring you your favorite fall specials. We have restocked the with fresh-pressed Bellwood Acres Apple Cider, which can be served hot or cold. This drink has a fresh from the orchard crisp taste, sure to give you that Bellingham-in-Autumn feeling. With the apple cider comes apple galettes, rustic hand pies made with our cream cheese dough. Another pastry favorite is back, the pumpkin scone with maple glaze and pecans. These are a favorite with youngsters, unless there are pumpkin shaped brown sugar shortbread cookies on display. Wouldn’t those be perfect for carving pumpkins with the family?
If you’re in the mood for dessert with friends, you must try a slice of our pumpkin cheesecake. Try pairing it with a pumpkin spice latte or maybe a pumpkin chai. Need something a little stronger? We now carry Anderson Valley Fall Hornin’ Pumpkin Ale. This is a smooth brown ale, with light spice and full body. Our beer specialist Lydia suggests enjoying it with a hot turkey Gouda sandwich or the soup du jour. Coming soon: fall savory vegetable sandwiches.
Dungeness crab eggs Benedict make the perfect start to any fall morning.
Over in Fairhaven the bakers are gearing up for pie season. After winning Best Bakery 2015, we only aim to raise our standards. We put extra time and care into our scratch made all-butter pie crusts, with fresh made fruit or nut filling. You can choose from pumpkin, apple or pecan, just make sure to call the bakery 72 hours in advance to take one home! Same goes with our decadent cheesecakes, which come in vanilla bean, pumpkin or peanut butter pie. If you’re looking for a lighter dessert, go with a caramelized lemon tart or poached pear frangipane, baked with short dough crust and lemon curd or almond frangipane. Of course, we wouldn’t forget our Belgian roots. Belgian chocolate truffle cakes are the perfect flourless option everyone will love, and they come in 6” or 10” sizes, excellent for any gathering. At the bakery, we also offer espresso, soup and quiche. Stop in if you need to fuel up while shopping in fantastic Fairhaven.
The Mount Bakery is proud to serve our community and welcomes the holiday hustle and bustle with open arms. The café is located at 308 W. Champion, and the bakery is at 1217 Harris Ave. Visit us on the web at mountbakery.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Students find joy in all kinds of dance at Opus Performing Arts School.
Opus Performing Arts School opened a little over a year ago in downtown Bellingham, and it is flourishing. They’ve already more than doubled the number of students attending in the second year of operation.
Opus is the brain-child of a small group of parents who wanted to create a serious dance school focused on excellent instruction and disciplined study for pre-professional dancers, while remaining a fun, community oriented place. I interviewed owner, Allan Redstone, and Artistic Director, Brooke Evans, to get to the heart of how Opus is creating a unique dance experience in Bellingham.
One year ago, Brooke began teaching at Opus, before being named Artistic Director. Her passion for Opus’ school style showed through immediately. “The environment I walked into a year ago was one of openness and support. I was instantly recognized as an important part of the school and any ideas or thoughts were not only welcomed but sought out. We all saw the potential for a strong school to flourish in our community and the opening of Opus unified us.”
The teachers and directors at Opus feel strongly about collaboration and community within their school, but it’s clear this commitment can coexist with a culture of high quality instruction.
Brooke Evans was recently named Artistic Director of Opus Performing Arts School.
Brooke shares, “I have spent many hours writing a curriculum that will provide our students with a safe and steady progression of their training. I am implementing a pointe readiness test to ensure students are not only old enough, but have the strength, range of motion and dedication to be en pointe. We have provided lectures and demonstrations about turn out and alignment from local physical therapist, Sidney Anderson.”
A deep care for the whole student is part of Opus’ philosophy, bringing in everything from Pilates classes for body awareness and strength, to a costume-care class, and monthly physical therapy screenings.
Brooke was formally trained in ballet, beginning in Santa Fe at the age of three. She comes to Opus from Bellingham Repertory Dance and has danced there since its inception in 2005. She has performed in over twenty different choreographic works and is regularly a guest teacher at Western Washington University. In Evans’ role as Artistic Director at Opus, she manages the course catalogue, curriculum, and performance schedules.
I also spoke with owner, Allan Redstone, about what prompted him to open a new school, what their guiding tenets are at Opus, and all the fun community events they’re getting involved in.
Allan’s 13-year-old daughter, Julia, has been dancing since she was four. And, although Bellingham has a lot of talented dancers and instructors, there was not a dance school that precisely fit their needs.
Ballet students practice their arabesques.
Along with a group of Bellingham parents, Allan began planning and coordinating what would become Opus Performing Arts School. “We wanted to take everything up a notch; to provide a place for dancers to go further.” And they’ve done just that, with their precisely detailed pre-professional program, their top-notch Artistic Director, and many of the best teachers in the area. At Opus, the top priorities are technique, fundamentals, and the long-term health of the students.
During our time together, Allan stressed the key role that hard work and self-discipline play in his school, and how ballet is the necessary jumping off point for all serious dancers. “Opus is a place where real learning takes place. We teach kids that there are no shortcuts to dancing safely and correctly. Ballet is where it all starts; it is the foundation for all dance styles. And learning ballet is the opposite of instant gratification. Even those with tremendous natural talent must put in the time and effort to be great dancers.”
Opus Performing Arts School instructor, Talia Elmore, leads 3-5-year-olds in tap class.
Allan acknowledges that the large majority of dancers will never become professionals, but that the elements found in a serious dance education are universally useful. “Choosing to become a professional dancer is like trying to play in the NBA. It’s just not going to happen for most of us, but the life lessons that come out of it are applicable to anything else students may choose to do.”
Though Opus clearly prioritizes high quality instruction and discipline, Allan said “It’s also a place where we all have fun. Opus is a multi-faceted studio. We have recreational classes for young kids and adults, and we value community and staying involved whenever possible.”
The founders of Opus wanted to be within walking distance of Bellingham High School to ease access for dancers. When they signed on for Opus’ current space on Holly Street, their downtown neighbors were thrilled, as the space had been vacant for the previous four years. “There are a lot of people who are working to improve downtown Bellingham, and we’re proud to be among them,” said Allan.
Opus participates in downtown Bellingham’s monthly Art Walks, the Downtown Trick-or-Treat event on Halloween, and many other community events; providing live dance performances whenever possible, as they did at last month’s Art Walk. As part of Doctober, The Pickford Film Center’s month-long celebration of the documentary, they will show the dance documentary Paul Taylor: Creative Domain. Choreographer Paul Taylor is generally considered to be one of the creators of modern dance. Opus students will be dancing live before the movie. Opus dancers will also be collaborating with the Skagit Valley Chorale at McIntyre Hall in Celebration In Song 2016. In addition, they are applying to be part of 12 Minute Max, an annual Bellingham showing of curated works, including dance, film, theater, and beyond. Opus is very busy staying involved in our community.
The little ones are all smiles at their Tutus and Tap class.
Opus will host a winter and spring performance. The winter performance is called “Winter White,” and is a ballet-only show. The spring performance includes all students and Allan ensures me “the little ones in the Tutus and Tap class always steal the show.” Stay in touch with the dance studio on the Opus Performing Arts Facebook page for details on these performances and other upcoming events.
Talented local filmmaker Nolan Alan McNally made a fabulous video about how Opus is doing things a little differently. Watch his brief video to hear from the teachers and students about why they love Opus, and to get even more excited about all that Opus is bringing to Bellingham.
“Always Honest, Not Always Pretty” is the tag line of the Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) based in Toronto, and chaired by local Bellinghamster, Polly Miller. FeFF provides an exclusive showcase for women directors of independent cinema.
I met Polly a few years ago, shortly after she moved to Bellingham in 2009 to follow her heart. Polly carries herself with the all of the grace and panache of Audrey Hepburn. Her accent has a lovely French lilt. As one of the many Whatcom County residents who live here and telecommute elsewhere, her varied career and international flair make for a fascinating conversation.
Polly Miller moved to Bellingham in 2009. She is the chair of the Female Eye Film Festival.
Polly was born in South Africa, and attended nursery school and one year of elementary school in London. Her family returned to South Africa for her junior high years, and then moved to France where she attended high school and obtained her baccalaureate. At that time, Polly wanted to experience the glamor of an American education. By then, her older sister had moved to Canada, and Polly settled on attending college in Toronto where she received a degree in general education from University of Toronto, and attended Ryerson University in Toronto, where she graduated with a degree in Radio and Television.
Polly first worked for CBC in Toronto for many years. Always the entrepreneur, she opened her own art gallery that showcased the commercial and professional work of photographers and illustrators, concurrently publishing a magazine. Since 1998, she has been an Account Executive and producer at The Backroom Agency, an advertising firm that specializes in travel and tourism, finance, beer, and wine.
Leslie Ann Coles, the Executive Director of FeFF hired Backroom to promote the event. Shortly thereafter, Leslie Ann invited Polly to join as Festival Chair in 2003, and Polly has been remained in this position ever since.
In December 2014, Polly learned that Bellingham was looking for ideas for a new signature event, grant funded by the Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism board, that would bring tourists to town to fill hotel rooms and boost local business, as well as highlight Bellingham. Along with some local FeFF supporters, Polly applied for the grant and came in as a runner up.
However, the team discovered that the City of Bellingham is eager for a film festival. Their application spread the word within the city and county, and drummed up a lot of support.
“All The Time In The World” is a film about a family attempting to disconnect from the world. Photo courtesy: FeFF.
FeFF has curated a block of films being shown as part of Pickford Film Center’s 2015 Doctober series and will be screened on October 17 and 18. The FeFF films have won awards in the categories of Documentary, Shorts and Animation.
The Shorts program showcases local filmmaker Elli Smith and her documentary about a group of Native American youth. Saturday night’s program includes a powerful film of a woman’s recovery from a traumatic injury, as well as a film about agricultural entrepreneurs. Sunday’s back-to-back programs feature Wanda the Wonderful which is introduced by a selection of films from the Young Filmmaker Development Workshop, and All the Time in the World which highlights a family attempting to disconnect from the world, enabling them to reconnect with each other. (See the full line-up of Doctober’s events here.)
FeFF programming includes an educational component, and for its foray into Bellingham, is planning to host a free seminar. The working title of the paneled Director’s discussion is “Breaking the Glass Ceiling for Women in Film,” and will be moderated by local Western Washington University educator, Mel Damski. As a Hollywood ex-pat, he is one of many who supports the emerging and successful filmmaker. Polly appreciates Mel’s sensitivity to women’s issues and his willingness to support women in this kind of work. Check the FeFF Facebook page for more details on other upcoming events related to Doctober.
The movie “Food Fighters” is intended to show how urban agriculture initiatives and local food businesses are coming together to create food security. Photo credit: FeFF.
As Polly continues to move forward with a committee of supporters to bring FeFF to Bellingham in the Spring 2016, she hopes a film festival such as this will enhance the overall experience of the town to its residents, as well as to visitors. Polly expects FeFF will contribute to the county’s economic growth by partnering with the arts community.
Polly is convinced that Whatcom County is a perfect location for FeFF for a number of reasons. First, she says, the environment is stunning and filmmakers will love it. For filmmakers, its proximity to “Hollywood of the North,” which include both Vancouver, BC and Seattle, is a bonus. Polly also notes that there is clearly a strong arts community that exists in Whatcom County – evidenced by the sheer number of individuals who are involved in the craft. Polly hopes to make Bellingham and Whatcom County a filmmaker destination.
Polly believes that FeFF will bring magic to Whatcom County. Based upon the history of other film festivals around the country, over a period of years, film festivals bring economic growth, as well as national and international recognition.
Polly hopes Bellingham takes ownership of the festival as a badge of honor. FeFF intends to connect with more local filmmakers from Whatcom County and the Pacific Northwest with the anticipated April event.
For more information about FeFF and how you can get involved, contact Polly at FeFF.Bellingham@gmail.com.
Attend a preview of the exhibit during a reception on Friday, Oct. 23 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Opening at the Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher building on October 24, 2015, is the traveling exhibition, “Chipping the Block, Painting the Silk: The Color Prints of Norma Bassett Hall.” Guest curated by Joby Patterson, scholar and author of “Norma Bassett Hall: Catalogue Raisonné of the Block Prints and Serigraphs,” the exhibition presents a spectrum of the Oregon-born Hall’s twenty-five year career as a printmaker. The exhibition will be showing through February 14, 2016.
Hall, who was born in Halsey, Oregon, in 1888, was a watercolorist and oil painter, but her greatest love was color printmaking. After studying at the Portland Art Association School and graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago, she spent two years in Europe, where she learned the skills of block printmaking. She returned to live in Kansas, where she was a charter member of the Prairie Print Makers, and later New Mexico, where she became part of the pioneer movement in the development of serigraphy.
Hall was educated in early twentieth century America, when the Arts and Crafts movement was all the rage. This training is revealed not only in the carving of woodblocks as a form of craft, but in the Japanese-influenced style and interpretation of her subjects. As was typical of an Arts and Crafts artist, Hall found inspiration in the diverse landscapes that she encountered in her extensive travels through Oregon, New Mexico, France, and England.
This is the first solo exhibition of Hall’s artwork since her death in 1957, the first time that more than sixty of her prints have been gathered for exhibition, and likely the first time prints by the artist have been exhibited in the Pacific Northwest since a 1930 group retrospective at the Portland Art Association. Exhibited for the first time will be a cherry woodblock and a portfolio of color block prints depicting the Oregon coast, jointly made by Hall and her husband, artist Arthur William Hall (American, 1889-1981), on the occasion of their marriage in 1922.
Guest curator Joby Patterson has been involved with fine prints for more than thirty years. After research in black and white intaglio prints for the book Bertha E. Jaques and the Chicago Society of Etchers, Dr. Patterson’s new interests turned to color. Her most recent book, “Norma Bassett Hall: Catalogue Raisonné of the Block Prints and Serigraphs,” traces the adventurous and creative life of Hall and her spouse.
Patterson says she “hopes that visitors who enjoyed the Museum’s Elizabeth Colborne exhibition, [which showed at the Lightcatcher in 2011], will also enjoy Hall’s work, and that the exhibition will contribute to the appreciation and knowledge of color block print artists, especially from the Pacific Northwest.”
Patterson will share her adventures in uncovering Hall’s life and work during a tour of the exhibition on Sat., Oct. 24, 2:00 p.m. A book signing will follow the gallery tour. Museum members can attend a preview reception on Fri., Oct. 23, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. All events will take place in the Lightcatcher building, 250 Flora Street.
Kevin Wiebe is a Ferndale native. Although he graduated from Ferndale High School, he admits he wasn't a model student. His teachers and administrators...
