Western Washington University's Arts & Music Productions began hosting WWU Bellingham Art Crawl on the first Friday of October and has continued the tradition on the first Friday of each month.
The idea for the event came after the closing of the Viking Union Gallery. Designed to introduce students to Bellingham’s art scene without having to do it alone, these art walks help promote art and connection between students.
“My supervisor, Casey Hayden, actually came up with the idea because he had heard about the Bellingham art walks,” said Skylar Cooney, AMP’s visual arts coordinator.
The art walk’s popularity led to AMP continuing to host one each month. Cooney said there is a wide academic variety of attendees, not just art history or studio majors.
Art walks for the first Friday of the month excite not just students who get off campus, but also the galleries and artists who participate.
“I love First Friday Art Walks! They’re some of the busiest nights at the gallery – apart from Voxel's opening receptions – and they bring out a wonderfully diverse crowd while energizing downtown with steady foot traffic,” Christine Biernacki, the director of Voxel Gallery, said in an email to The Front.
While students can attend Voxel Gallery any time of the year, by attending the first Friday walks students get the opportunity to meet local artists and enjoy refreshments.
Events like the first Friday walks also help make art accessible for those who may not normally get to participate in these events at galleries and museums, according to Garth Amundson, a professor of art at Western. Amundson recently participated in an exhibition at the Whatcom Museum that helped with this access.
“Let's face it, it's expensive to go into the museum, so to have a free event was fantastic,” Amundson said.
The exhibition also collaborated with Bellingham Queer Collective. Amundson said the event was an opportunity to engage with a community that is often excluded from mainstream art spaces.
“I think art can be very intimidating, and so anytime you make it more accessible and break it down, it makes it more fun,” Amundson said. “I think right now we all need a reason to celebrate and a reason to engage with just some old-fashioned entertainment.”
Amundson said these art walks are essential to heightening awareness of local artists, engaging the community and promoting Western as a whole; however, he said he does not feel they are a substitute for a professional student-run gallery.
When Cooney leads the gallery tours, she likes to take attendees to smaller gallery spaces like the Bay Street Studios to support smaller artists. She hopes these events create more curiosity about the art scene, as some of the galleries include artists that visitors may only get one opportunity to see.
“I hope students have the opportunity to experience artwork and galleries they might not otherwise see during the month,” Biernacki said. “I especially appreciate that it’s a community-centered event that’s accessible to everyone.”
Isobel Diprima (she/her) is a campus life reporter. She is a second-year visual journalism pre-major and is thrilled for her first quarter writing for The Front. When she’s not writing, Isobel can be found curled up in bed with her cat, Twilight, reading a good book or taking photos for The Rage Magazine or of her friends. You can reach Isobel at isobeldiprima.thefront@gmail.com.
