Collaboration, creativity and community come together in Windows Alive! project downtown

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 WWU 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 WWU 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.