On a smokey weekend at Waypoint Park in Bellingham, WA, Indigeversal Collective installed a massive 160 foot mural at the entrance of the park. On August 18-20, a team of extremely talented artists from Coast Salish to Cherokee origins spent 3 days painting in the Coast Salish and form line design styles associated with Pacific Northwest tribal nations.
Featured artists include:
- Jason LaClair, Lummi/Nooksack Nation
- Káa Sháyee, Tlingit
- Thayne Yazzi, Dine/Navajo, Cherokee, Mohawk
- Savannah LeCornu, Tsimshian, Haida, Nimiipuu (Nez Perce)
- Free Borsey, Lummi Nation
- Brian Perry, Port Gamble S’Klallam
A non-Indigenous organization known as Paper Whale planned the "Noisy Water" mural festival event that is named for the Indigenous name of the county where the mural now exists: Whatcom - referred to by the Lummi "What-Coom." Rather than select a local Native artist, Paper Whale chose an artist, Kaplan Bunce, who identifies as having Apache origins residing in Hawaii to lead local Native artists. From 9 am until as late as 12:30 a.m. the artists painstakingly, yet lovingly, created the mural on a purely volunteer basis enduring on their feet for long hours.
Although it was meant to be part of the larger festival, The Indigeversal mural's distant proximity made it appear to be a separate event completely. Many who attended the Festival complained that the Indigeversal Collective was not properly featured as a part of the event since there was inadequate signage to steer the public to the mural-in-progress. They were barely visible from the main festival and away from all facilities: the mural was tucked in a far corner of the parking lot just below the line of sight from the entrance road. They were in essence rendered invisible during the mural festival. Despite the challenges the Collective persevered to finish their mural by the 3rd and final day. Friends and family came out to help paint and brought food and beverages to keep them going. This support helped to avoid artists having to stand in long lines at food booths on the far end of the festival which I saw one of the artists attempt.
It should be mentioned that despite the festival being held on Coast Salish land, none of the artists chosen for the Noisy Water Festival mural competition were Indigenous to the region. All the artists chosen to compete were compensated while the Indigeversal artists were not. Other participating artists where invited by Paper Whale to do workshops while the Indigeversal artists were not. These artists were also expected to pay 20% from the sales of their art and other merchandise sold at the festival while creating a monumental mural for free.
By day three the crew wrapped up an epically stunning mural with mirrored designs atop giant diamonds as a background in marine and sunset hues- in the early evening. The rest of the festival artists had departed by that time. What remained was a beautiful family vibe among the Native artists that cannot be manufactured or easily duplicated. Truly original and genuine. Hy'shqe and Wado!
An important follow up:
To this date none of the Indigeversal artists were asked to submit an evaluation of their experience. There was no request for the public's evaluation of the Noisy Water Mural Festival in the Paper Whale's "Recap" email sent out on on August 23. But anyone interested in submitting a review can contact Paper Whale directly on their site.