Thousands attend Whatcom Museum grand opening

PETER JENSEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Whatcom County art lovers had a good reason to rejoice Saturday, Nov. 14 - the new Whatcom Museum opened in the Lightcatcher building in downtown Bellingham.

About 4,000 people attended the opening, which was free and open to the public.

People wandered throughout the museum's two floors, observing its two art exhibits or simply enjoying the new building's architecture.

| PHILIP A. DWYER | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

An interactive gallery intended for, but certainly not limited to, children on the museum's first floor was a hit for dozens of families throughout the day.

Building the museum cost about $18 million, and construction began in summer 2007.

A highlight for many was the exhibit titled "Bloom: The Elephant Bed" by artist John Grade, said Barbara Matilsky, the museum's curator of art.

The exhibit features a series of bell-shaped sculptures suspended over a pool of water and ink. Over the next several months, several of the sculptures will be lowered into the pool and will slowly dissolve, Matilsky said.

Grade attended the opening to answer questions about the sculptures, which were inspired by microscopic organisms that formed the White Cliffs of Dover in Britain.

"It really captures people's imagination," said museum spokeswoman Laura Johanson. "Everyone responds to it in a really great way."

The second exhibit was titled "Out of Bounds" and featured works from artists around the world, Matilsky said.

The works are from a collection belonging to Driek and Michael Zirinsky, and are intended to show that art transcends borders, cultures, styles and time.

"The idea was to provide a survey for the latest in contemporary art," Matilsky said. "I was very conscious of selecting a broad range of approaches to art. There's a lot of variety."

The exhibits will be replaced with new ones in April, giving people a good reason to re-visit the museum - or to become members, Matilsky said.

"There will be something new to see every few months," Matilsky said. "You can't see everything at once. I think that it exposes people to work they might not see. They don't necessarily have to go to Seattle or Vancouver."