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Meet the Artists!
With over 135 outstanding applicants, we have selected our finalists! We welcome over 25 artists painting in three unique event areas on our Waterfront. Learn more about how we selected participating artists here.
(1) Eight selected finalists competing on 8x8 murals for large prize walls. Read more about those artists here.
(2) The Indigeversal Collective painting a large collaboration mural onsite! Read more about those artists here.
(3) Eleven runner-up finalists will be painting a large blockbuster feature of "NOISY WATERS". See a list of those artists here.
Each activation area will be located on Bellingham's Waterfront for all three days of the festival. Read more about each artist and their contribution below.
Dom Laporte | Ottawa, Canada
Dominic is a Canada-based muralist and illustrator whose work combines traditional painting and mixed-media techniques. His work largely focuses on themes embodying the natural world and most recently exploring symbiotic relationships found in nature and using those to carry out more in-depth concepts and narratives.
Over the past decade, he has expanded his mural practice on an international level and developed a distinct style that’s become a familiar feature of Ottawa’s urban environment. His work has always been inspired by his direct surroundings and the murals allow him to reach audiences who may not frequent art galleries. Laporte has produced large-scale murals commissioned by Canada’s Museum of Science & Technology, Live Nation Canada, Street Art Toronto, The Royal Canadian Navy, Bank of Montreal, Adidas, The Canadian Medical Association, the City of Ottawa Light Rail Transit, and the Nelson International Mural Festival, among others.
Learn more at Drift Mural Co.
Shogo Ota | Camano Island, Washington
Although Shogo Ota hails from Japan, he has called the Pacific Northwest home for more than a decade. After graduating with a BFA from the University of Idaho, Ota landed at Modern Dog Design Co. in Seattle. He established his own studio, Tireman Studio, in 2012.
He has been working with companies large and small, from Starbucks, Seattle Kraken, Fjallraven, local chefs and more, on everything from painted murals to branding projects. Ota is sometimes referred to as a “stylistic chameleon.”
Learn more at Tireman Studio
Emily Beaudoin | Calgary, Canada
Emily Beaudoin is a watercolor, pen and ink artist and muralist based out of Revelstoke, BC and Canmore, Alberta. Emily has been irresistibly drawn to the mountains because they make her feel small, full of wonder, and utterly and completely alive. She spends her time hiking, skiing, biking, and paddling into the backcountry in order to paint her experiences. Documenting these peaks, plants and animals is her away of sharing the love and respect I have for them.
Learn more at Emily Beaudoin Murals
Emilio & Erik González | Seattle, Washington
The Urbanists Collective has been making a splash in the public art scene, both locally and nationally since 2012.
In addition to developing art for social change, the Urbanists Collective are experienced working with various municipalities as art curators, designers, and muralists. Urbanism is traditionally associated with architecture, urban planning or landscape design. Similar to architects, the Urbanists Collective embrace the concept of redefining public space, with the addition of art and public engagement.
Learn more at Urbanists Collective
Charly Malpass | Truckee, California
Charly has been a painter for more than 10 years, beginning as a poet and oil painter while pursuing her BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute. After completing her degree, she lived in Greece and Italy, studying ancient works of art and classic painting techniques.
Her oil paintings are born from half remembered and half imagined, familiar places. By soaking in the emotions of her ever changing environment, she is able to reconstruct memories with poetic rendering. Charly often thinks the use of abstraction gets us closer to the way things truly are, not just how they appear. So in her recent work, she relies entirely on the manipulation of paint by layering and building material onto the surface.
In addition, Charly is currently teamed up with “Tomorrow’s Artist”, a company that collects and filters discarded paint from consumer drop off sites, to then create high-quality paint for artists. Since she is working with repurposed materials, sustainability has been a major theme in her paintings, especially her murals. Her large scale murals reflect the beauty of the natural world, the environmental challenges we face, and the opportunities for recovery and redemption.
Learn more at Charly Malpass Murals
Jeff Sheridan | Portland, Oregon
Jeff’s work explores repetitious, self-organizing symmetries in the natural world. Affected by elemental conditions, objects in the world are organized in a way that is neither crystalline nor inorganic. Water erosion sculpts mountains, and life populates those exposed fertile pockets. Thematic and fluid, these natural symmetries are accentuated through repetition which in turn create texture and form structures in negative space.
Learn more at Jeff Sheridan
Eric Karbeling | Honolulu, Hawaii
Eric Karbeling is a Honolulu, HI-based artist focused on transforming environments through painting murals in my style of improvisational forms (aka squiggles) to craft colorful hypnotic imagery.
The goal of his work is to evoke a sense of joy, calm, and balance amidst chaos inviting the viewer to get lost in and find inspiration in the way the imagery comes together while forging a stronger connection with the place of the work.
Whether working on a large-scale public mural or a smaller, more intimate piece, Eric's goal is always to create something that brings a sense of wonder and escape, a place where people can get out of their heads and simply enjoy the beauty of the art.
Learn more at Eric Karbeling Murals
Erika Rosendale | Santa Cruz, California
Erika was raised in the redwoods and the sandy seas of southern Santa Cruz County in California, developing an art practice at an early age inspired by comic books. This grew into a love for painting, which she took to study on the east coast, earning a BFA from Boston University's College of Fine Art.
She has been a scenic artist for theater and festivals for over a decade, and has continued to go bigger on murals in the last five years. Recently, her memorial piece at Bill’s Wheels legendary graffiti alley won Best Of in the Santa Cruz Waves Magazine - Swellies 2022 Awards.
She has over 10 solo murals in her home town, as well as more than 10 large scale collaborations. Multiple have been awarded Best Of’s in the Good Times Santa Cruz. As a member of the art collective Made Fresh Crew she’s been a part of two Seawalls - Artists for Oceans international mural festivals with Pangeaseed, a non-profit spreading ocean stewardship through art. She was also a large part of the 600 foot long Fresh Walls Project - Clean Oceans Mural on Mission St. She has more murals in the Bay Area, and was invited to paint in the Sand City Mural Festival 2022 with WE.Create Art.
Learn more at Erika Rosendale Murals
The Indigeversal Collective
The Indigeversal Collective is a program designed to create uplift for artists from Indigenous communities globally. The purpose is to provide time and space for artists to further develop their craft. Hosted by KRNT Studios, the Indigeversal Collective is here for the future voices of art!
We welcome back Apache artist Kaplan Bunce and an exceptional team of indigenous tribes to collaborate on a mural that will welcome this community for a decade to come.
Featured artists include:
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Jason LaClair, Lummi Nation
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Káa Sháyee, Tlingit
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Thayne Yazzi, Dine/Navajo, Cherokee, Mohawk
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Savannah LeCornu, Tsimshian, Haida, Nimiipuu (Nez Perce)
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Free Borsey, Lummi Nation
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Brian Perry, Port Gamble S’Klallam
In addition, eleven runner-up artists were selected to design a 200' "Noisy Waters" mural at the festival for the public to enjoy. Led by local street artist Matt French.
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Jessa Gilbert | Squamish BC, Canada
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Yi Du | Seattle, WA
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Veda Allen | Bellingham WA
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Ezra Dickinson | Seattle, WA
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Ulissa Smith | Sacramento, CA
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Evan Namkung | Bend, OR
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Cameron McCool | Bellingham, WA
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Darcie Gray | Bellingham, WA
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Eliza Carver | Bellingham, WA
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Val Herman | Bellingham, WA
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Jen Vickers | Seattle, WA