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Anyone who has encountered the folks at Paper Whale knows that the PW team is an engine for bold creative projects like the Fire & Story Festival on the waterfront in Bellingham. 

In their latest collaboration, Paper Whale tapped the considerable talent of four students in the �������� Design Department. The students — Lily Shaw, Olivia Cicciarelli, Julian Cabrera, and Caroline Alton (along with Associate Professor of Design John Gialanella) — worked with Paper Whale in a workshop setting to generate illustrations that would grace the empty windows of unoccupied properties downtown. 

Paper Whale also secured permission from the City of Bellingham to cover the windows and served as a liaison with the downtown real estate companies to use empty windows for the project. They enlisted the company Stickers for Days to print the murals, with some coordination from the students.

Nick Hartrich, founder of Paper Whale and a �������� alumnus, said that his most meaningful project as a student was working on community-focused initiatives. 

“That’s likely why I stayed in Bellingham for 26 years,” he said.

Hartrich also enjoyed the collaboration and inspiration the students brought the project.

“It was an ideal match to partner with John Gialanella to co-create a Winter Design syllabus for this project. The vacant storefront project seemed like an ideal way to engage students in a deeper understanding of how important our urban core is to this community,” said Hartrich.

But the creative drive and inspiration came directly from the students.

“Having real-world experience tied to a course where students have the structure and safety of a classroom setting to learn, grow, make mistakes, and work with community members outside of �������� is a keystone of the Department of Design's curriculum,” said Gialanella.

The process to select the four students was competitive — each student had to pitch Paper Whale with bold designs that would work on a large scale. In addition to Gialanella’s feedback, the staff at Paper Whale also provided feedback that guided the project to ensure that the murals were consistent while retaining the creative vision in each one of them. 

The overarching theme of the project — the flora and fauna of Whatcom County and the Pacific Northwest — was unintentional. Each of the students independently chose to represent their visions through animal and plant imagery.

�������� senior Julian Cabrera acted as a creative director, though he also designed three murals, “Over Time,” “Generations,” and “Euphony.” In them, he explores life cycles and aging, a theme inspired by his mother. Each panel of the “Over Time” mural represents a stage of life in age range 0 to 25, 25 to 50, 50 to 75, and 75 to 100. “Generations” explores the cycle of life from egg to full grown bunny, eagle, and other animals, back to egg.

Cabrera grew up inspired by his hometown hero, the famous muralist Diego Rivera. 

“What I drew from Rivera is that art should be public and meaningful,” Cabrera said. 

As for logistics, Cabrera had a pivotal role as creative director. 

“I was managing communications with Paper Whale, working with Caroline and Chloë, and coordinating with Stickers for Days. It was a lot of collaboration.”

Senior BFA student Olivia (Liv) Cicciarelli, the artist behind “Natural Vibrance,” enjoyed how each of the students reflected their backgrounds in their murals.

“Julian is from Mexico, Lily is from Alaska, I’m from San Francisco — each mural represents us as people,” said Cicciarelli.

The work came naturally to Cicciarelli, who grew up in the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco. 

“I painted murals when I was younger. Growing up in the Haight was like a street course in mural design and painting,” she said.

Lily Shaw, a senior BFA student who designed “Herons on Holly,” “Deer and Dustwings,” and “Belly on the Bay” said the project’s intense deadline restraints made it challenging, but it was a challenge they were accustomed to.

“In the BFA program, we had all done projects that we had to turn around quickly from assignment to deadline, so we had practice. This was just on such a bigger scale with our cohort, professor, the City of Bellingham, Stickers for Days and Paper Whale,” said Shaw.

Shaw said of their murals, “They are a love letter to Bellingham’s wildlife — the deer, the herons, the sea life — the animals we love.”

Hartrich and Gialanella both said they appreciated the creativity and professionalism the students brought to the project. 

 “We have some fantastic students in our program and projects like this give us an opportunity to showcase their work and boast about their talents,” said Gialanella.

Go to this link to learn more about  Project, including a map of the mural locations.

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Frances Badgett covers the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Fine and Performing Arts Communications. Reach out to her with story ideas at badgetf@wwu.edu.