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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Bellingham-based nonprofit Paper Whale does not consider themselves to simply be an arts organization.
Rather they consider their work to act as a cultural accelerator by looking to revitalize the art community in Bellingham one event, mural or installment at a time.
Paper Whale co-founders Nick Hartrich and Gretchen Leggitt officially started Paper Whale in 2021, but the collaboration began years before when Hartrich approached Leggitt to paint Washington’s Largest Mural.
“Nick twisted my arm because this is what he does. He sees a vision, and he believes in people, and he elevates them,” Leggitt said. “And he expects the best from people, which I think is something that Paper Whale strives to do, is to bring out the best in the creative world.”
Leggitt, originally from Colorado, discovered Bellingham on a bike road trip over a decade ago, while Hartrich—from Alaska—moved to Bellingham for school 26 years ago. Leggitt and Hartrich were drawn to Bellingham’s arts community and the now-gone alley arts district.
“It was where a metal smith, a blacksmith shop was a traditional photography studio, wood shop and print shop,” Leggitt said. “For the first time in my life, I saw art, industrial art, fine art, street art, and a creative community all concentrated right in the heart of downtown, and I ate it up. I was so I fell madly in love with this concept of this being a blue-collar town where there were makers and builders actively working right in the downtown corridor.”
Paper Whale recently leased a warehouse on Astor Street in hopes of reviving the energy of seeing active crafting in the city center.
“We fell in love with Bellingham in the same alley, essentially, and there’s some rawness to that.” Hartrich said.
Hartrich compares the city to Bend, OR, which has a similar community to Bellingham but notes that people fall in love with Bellingham’s “funky, raw nature” that is pushed out of a lot of communities.
One of the goals of Paper Whale is to showcase the unique energy of Bellingham by utilizing different artforms, both traditional and non-traditional.
“We really wanted to bring back the idea of creating multi-sensorial events in which were infusing traditional art forms such as painting with non-traditional art forms like glass blowing and blacksmithing and really showing the breadth of the creative world, including puppetry and circus acts.” Leggitt said.
Hartrich doesn’t want to discount the economic opportunity their events create for the local community. As co-founders of the Noisy Waters Mural Festival, they want to draw people—both visitors and artists—from around the world to our corner of the Pacific Northwest.
“There is such an amazing scope of talented artists on the West Coast, and I would love to see more voices get on our walls,” Leggitt said. “When you look at the Wild Buffalo [for example], if there were only local bands playing, it would get a little redundant. We really want to reach out to the world of creatives and invite them into our community to share their voice.”
Connecting with people outside of the community is not the only communication Leggitt and Hartrich hope to foster. Each event the team puts on infuses story and art from the Coast Salish tribes. Leggitt said some of their most important work is acting as a liaison between the Coast Salish peoples and the general public.
“I cannot wait to create more opportunities to elevate these marginalized groups even more,” she said. Their second installment of the annual Fire and Story event gave a platform for native stories to be told alongside other performances. It also drew in community members to create projects for the event, from partnering with WWU’s Design Department for projected animations to building wire and fabric fish that paraded through the festival.
Between their work in downtown and efforts to create a work and event space in Old Town, Paper Whale also partners with the Port of Bellingham for their work and will continue to do so.
When asked what they want to be known for in Bellingham and the greater Whatcom County community, Hartrich said he wants Paper Whale to act as an instigator for cultural shift. He wants them to be known for their work in the community that would drive a visitor to come to Bellingham rather than Seattle.
“[We want them to say ‘Bellingham] is birthing something that we’ve never seen anywhere in the world.’ And that’s what I want our work to be known for,” he said.
Hartrich and Leggitt expect to launch their new space on Astor Street in May of this year and invite the community to participate in events leading up the launch and after they open to the public. They hope to create a space for workshops and residencies that allow creators to work with their hands in a variety of forms.
“I am madly in love with being a Whatcom County resident. I feel like it’s just one big neighborhood, and I know all my neighbors. I love going to the co-op and just seeing friends and seeing community members,” Leggitt said. “I feel seen and heard in Whatcom County.”
For more information about Paper Whale and the work they are doing in the area, head to their website at paper-whale.com.
We are Whatcom is a weekly column featuring Whatcom County residents making a positive impact on the community. To submit a Whatcom County resident to be featured, click here.