The Whatcom Artist Studio Tour returns this fall for two weekends of open studios, giving Whatcom County residents a rare opportunity to meet working artists in their own creative spaces, watch them demonstrate their craft, and purchase work directly from the makers. The tour runs October 3 to 4 and October 10 to 11 throughout the county.
The tour has its origins in a 1994 open house organized by Bellingham artist Christopher Moench, who realized that including more artists and more studios would create something more powerful than a solo event. From that modest beginning, the Whatcom Artist Studio Tour grew into a juried, county-wide event featuring professional and full-time artists selected through a competitive application process. This year's tour is a chance to step behind the curtain of the local arts scene and see where and how the work actually gets made.
Five Artists to Know This Year
Moench himself remains one of the tour's most compelling stops. His Yew Street Hill studio in Bellingham is where he makes pottery that carries a specific emotional and historical weight. After a career change from law firm work to full-time ceramics, his direction shifted dramatically following the June 10, 1999 Olympic Petroleum Pipeline rupture in Whatcom Falls Park. The explosion, which killed three boys and spilled gasoline into the creek, became the catalyst for his most significant body of work. He began creating ceramic story wheels, inspired by pre-Columbian Mayan sculpture, that document both the disaster and the restoration effort on the creek corridor. A bronze version of his Whatcom Creek Pipeline Disaster Story Wheel is installed in the lobby of Bellingham City Hall. He continues to create commissioned work and shows at Good Earth Pottery in Fairhaven, Waterworks Gallery in La Conner, and the Sculpture Park at Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.
Mary Ennes Davis, another Bellingham artist on this year's tour, has built a career through a series of unexpected pivots. She began by making jewelry from reclaimed materials while working in marketing and sales, then landed a Nordstrom buyer's attention walking through the store, and fulfilled a five-store wholesale order without any experience doing so. That willingness to say yes and figure it out later has defined her work ever since. Inspired by the aftermath of September 11, she began creating large-scale figures she calls "guardians," made from recycled materials including turbine blade scraps, that hang in public buildings and homes around the world. The largest guardian she has made hangs in a courthouse in Ketchikan, Alaska. She works as a teaching artist for Allied Arts of Whatcom County, creates murals for hospitals across the country, and has shown work at the Smithsonian Art Show in Washington, D.C. Her murals can be seen at PeaceHealth's Emergency Department and Birth Center in Bellingham. She will open her studio off Northshore Road for the tour.
Patrick Wickline, a third featured artist, works in portraiture, adding depth and variety to a tour that already spans ceramics, fiber arts, and sculptural work from reclaimed materials.
A Juried, County-Wide Event
Unlike open studio events where any artist can participate, the Whatcom Studio Tour selects its featured artists through a juried process. That means visitors can expect a consistent level of professional quality across the studios on the tour, with artists who have established practices and bodies of work rather than hobbyists trying the format for the first time.
Studios are spread throughout Whatcom County, not concentrated in a single neighborhood or venue, which makes the tour a genuine exploration of the county's geography as well as its arts scene. Whether a studio is in a Bellingham neighborhood, a rural property east of the city, or a small-town workshop in one of Whatcom's outlying communities, each stop offers a different context for the work being made there.
The WWU Fine Arts building on the Western Washington University campus is also opening a significant new exhibition this fall, with the Rajkamal Kahlon show "Are My Hands Clean?" opening October 8. The convergence of the Studio Tour weekends and the gallery opening makes early October a particularly rich moment for the arts in Whatcom County.
Planning Your Visit
The full map of participating studios, artist bios, and tour logistics for both weekends are available through the Whatcom Studio Tour's event page. Tours are self-guided, meaning visitors can move between studios at their own pace on either or both weekends. Studios are typically open during set hours on Saturday and Sunday, and some artists offer demonstrations or hands-on activities in addition to open viewing of their workspaces.
For more information and to plan your route across both October weekends, visit local event listings or search directly for the Whatcom Artist Studio Tour online. The tour is free to attend, and purchases go directly to the artists.
For Whatcom County residents who appreciate locally made art and want to support the working artists who give the region its creative character, the Studio Tour is one of the best events of the fall calendar. Mark October 3, 4, 10, and 11 on your calendar and plan to spend a few hours exploring the studios that make Whatcom County's arts scene genuinely distinctive.
