BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A festival traversing the gaps between music, art and comedy has returned to Bellingham for the second time.

The multi-day, multi-stage and multi-sensory festival “Bellingham Exit” is back—and while it has scaled down in some ways, it is not lacking any way in ingenuity. The event encourages those who set foot inside to “exit the ordinary” as set designers plan to transport people to other fantastical lands within each venue.

The festival is spread out over four main venues: Mount Baker Theatre, The Shakedown, The Blue Room and The Wild Buffalo. However, the event is not confined to those areas and will collaborate with free venue spots like Ramble Tamble, Ritual Records, Gruff Brewing and Mallard’s Ice Cream.

Forrest Templin, a Western Washington University (WWU) student and head of the event’s brand relations, said they made the decision to scale down the expanse of Bellingham Exit this year. Limiting the crossover of their shows on Saturday afternoon and reducing the number of venues were decisions they had to make in order to sustain team members.

“To be able to really invest the proper time and ensure scene safety, make sure all of our venues are supported and our artists are better taken care of this year,” Templin said. “We wanted to focus more towards that.”

A group of Bellingham Exit’s resident artists discuss progress and further plans inside of the warehouse workspace. Photographed by Ellie Coberly

The Port of Bellingham is sponsoring Bellingham Exit this year, which supported artists and allowed organizers to rent out a warehouse. Teams worked out of Fairhaven where they created intricate stage designs. The artists were all given the space, tools, team and support to build collaborative projects within the span of a month.

Each of the magical worlds this year are bubbly and whimsical, while still diving into themes of sustainability and environmentalism. Each venue has a given name and coinciding theme: The Shakedown is transformed into the “Imagination Station,” The Blue Room becomes “Fintasia” and The Wild Buffalo is called “The Alchemy Plant.”

Artists Abby Butzen and Seth Feralin both worked on Bellingham Exit last year. Butzen said that the first thing that came to mind when considering the theme was the mystery behind an aquatic realm. The idea of “magic” beneath the water led their set in The Blue Room to follow an underwater concept. She went on to share that she hopes the imaginative scenes inspire people to let go and not feel so serious.

“I want people to have fun and use their imaginations,” Butzen said.

Abby Butzen (left) and Forrest Templin (right) hold up a piece sewn by Butzen. Once finished, the fabric project will take on the form of a large sea creature, diving down the stairs in The Blue Room. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
The shimmering tops of unfinished jelly fish, which will be used as decor in the venue. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
A multi-frame upcycled fish cut out, designed by Seth Feralin. The frames will be positioned within the venue. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
Butzen shares some detailed touches of her take on a “whale fall,” which typically occurs when the carcass of a whale has fallen onto the ocean floor. The design, made up of wood, fabric and paint, will surround the main stage. Photographed by Ellie Coberly

Along with Butzen and Feralin, only a few artists and set designers were chosen (out of approximately 20 applicants) and Mark Kuntz, a WWU theater department faculty member and artistic director for Bellingham Theater Works, said that the results of each room could not be more different.

“That’s the beauty of this process, we found three very different approaches to exploring magical fantasy,” Kuntz said. “When people enter [the room], they exit. We want the whole room to really change. The art isn’t going to be hanging on the wall, you’re actually in the picture.”

One example of the larger scale walk-through galleries Bellingham Exit will have this year is the set design at The Shakedown. A picture called “Envision” that took artist Jocelyn Suzanne Hoey two years to create was blown up on a larger scale and broken into 16 different pieces. It will be displayed throughout the venue and used to transport people into Hoey’s idea of what the future could look like.

In an email, Templin clarified that Hoey wanted people to see a world where humans live in a regenerative climate having overcome climate change. She calls this sub-theme “the future is golden.”

Artist Jocelyn Suzanne Hoey holding up her original postcard print titled “Envision.” In the background is a portion of the resized version, which will be set up throughout The Shakedown. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
Hoey’s take on a futuristic fantasy device, which purifies the air and recycles pollutants. These creations can be seen drawn on Hoey’s original piece of work and were brought to life to be used within the set’s design. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
An up-close shot of hanging decor that will be used to bring the set and room to life. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
A wide shot of several portions of Hoey’s original work. Photographed by Ellie Coberly

When reflecting upon what Bellingham Exit’s greater purpose is within the community, Templin expressed that he hopes the residual effects of the festival linger and manifest into something more permanent.

“The long-term goal is to really provide a platform for local artists and Bellingham to celebrate its cultural diversity and pluralistic expressions of art and imagination [year-round],” Templin said.

For The Wild Buffalo’s Alchemy Plant, the team of artists putting together the set is looking at the project as a jumping off point for future endeavors. Interactive Bellingham is drawing inspiration from a defunct building on the Bellingham waterfront, the so-called “alcohol plant.” According to Interactive Bellingham’s founding member Thor Myhre, the Port plans to tear down the large structure next to the container village for new construction, but the team of artists want to use it as an interactive art museum.

“We’ve been at it for eight years,” Myhre said. “It’s going to be maybe another decade or two before we finally get a big space. For now, this is a great interim to show what we can do and [create] a fun space to play together.”

The sets are the property of the artists, and—after Bellingham Exit—the artists can do what they want with them. Myhre said the pieces they made for The Alchemy Plant—a grimy, steampunk set—will eventually go into future installations that Interactive creates. The team is using their small grant they received for the set design to fuel other artistic endeavors.

An upcycled dragon made for The Wild Buffalo’s “Alchemy Plant” set. The piece ties into the idea of sustainability by recycling what would previously be considered “junk” and turning it into something new. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
Portion of the set design, a futuristic take on a mechanical and industrial world.
Thor Myhre, Bellingham Exit artist and founder of Interactive Bellingham, showing off his gear and cog tapestries. The tapestries were created by laying fabric sheets on either side of rusted gears and spraying them with vinegar and salt, leaving them to soak and seep color into the fabric. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
A close up shot of the tapestry-making process. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
Renee Sherrer, fashion designer and owner of Social Fabric, showing off her botanical flowers. The flowers are her own creation that she made prior to The Alchemy Plant set. The flowers will be further enhanced by neon tape, which will light up under the venue’s black light. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
A close up shot of some of the botanicals created by Sherrer. Photographed by Ellie Coberly
Volunteer Vanessa Blackburn works on what will be the entrance to The Alchemy Plant. Photographed by Ellie Coberly

The sets designed by Bellingham Exit artists and volunteers will be further brought to life during the festival’s live performances. There are over 60 acts booked from Thursday, Oct. 10 through Sunday, Oct. 13 ranging from comedians to live music and DJ sets.

A notable change from last year’s Bellingham Exit is the late night EDM pass that allows ravers to see a handful of local and touring DJs throughout the weekend. The pass includes six different electronic shows for $46, compared to the festival’s all-access pass that costs nearly $120.

In addition to this multimodal weekend, Bellingham Exit is teaming up with vendors to put on a “Bellingham Bazaar” Art Market. The market will happen on Oct. 11 from 2 to 9 p.m. and Oct. 12 from 12 to 8 p.m. inside of the historic building on 103 E Holly St. So far, there is a total of 20 vendors, but a form remains open to interested applicants.

Exiting the ordinary and entering the fantastical is a driving engagement between creatives and audiences.

“Every year we’re trying to play with a little different theme,” Kuntz said. “I found artists who live very comfortably in the magical world.”

The sum of Bellingham Exit’s parts amounts to more than a music or an art festival, and the heart that went into these set designs may be felt as concertgoers exit the ordinary of Bellingham.

 

Editor’s note: Information in this article was updated to reflect correct spelling of some last names. Last updated: Oct. 14 at 5:00 p.m.