Embodiment: A Portrait of Queer Life in is an archive and a journey through a rapidly changing community and the lives of people who offer brave new visions of what it means to be queer in America today. Stopping in churches, parks, high school classrooms, back yards and bedrooms, I have collaborated with individuals from both urban and rural areas for over 6 years. With this ever-growing archive of portraits, I aim to highlight a national experience while acknowledging its many diverging, overlapping and at times conflicting parts.  Created as a joint effort with participants who boldly stand in front of my lens, Embodiment reveals images of love and survival, creative forms of gender expression and the ever-changing anatomy of a family. It is my hope that these photographs will become a lasting archive for generations to come.

Learn more about the Embodiment project at http://embodimentusa.com/.

Now you can upload your Jinx pix right up to our Flickr! Right here at http://www.flickr.com/groups/jinxartspace/ Join the group and you are in business.

Make.Shift is happy to announce that Jinx Art Space will now have open office hours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays – Fridays.

Come take a look at the gallery, peruse our zine library, or check out one of our open studios for rent!

BELLINGHAM – Local music nonprofit Make.Shift is debuting its new home Friday, Oct. 7, with an art show during the Downtown Art Walk.

Make.Shift’s new spot at 306 Flora St. will provide practice space for musicians, studio space for artists and a venue for live music, as well as room for other programs for local artists.

The group also has just signed a lease with the nonprofit Whatcom All-ages Arts & Music, allowing WhAAM to put on shows in the space, 306 Flora St.

“We’ve been working so long with WhAAM, and both groups have worked so hard to make this partnership happen,” said Make.Shift Director Cat Sieh. “It’s wonderful to see what’s come out of that relationship so far, and I’m excited to see what happens in the future.”

Make.Shift took over the business and lease for the Jinx Art Space building in July and has had plenty of help from volunteers and local businesses during the renovation process.

“It’s absolutely amazing to see the music community come together and support this project and see it come through,” Sieh said. “Everybody has been so gung ho, so supportive.”

Make.Shift will keep the upstairs space as a gallery, and will open with the group show “The Black Forest: Fear and Nature,” from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday. The event also will include the Bellingham Circus Guild and music by Bar Tabac.

Downstairs will remain a music venue, and there are practice spaces available for bands to rent. The Jinx sign remains out front.

WhAAM’s first show in the space will be 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, with a grand opening show 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22.

Sieh described the building as a constant work in progress as the group develops plans to offer classes, programs and more services for local artists and musicians.

“We have such a great framework to move forward,” she said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

To find out more about WhAAM and the shows it has scheduled for the month, go online to whaam.org. For information about Make.Shift, go to makeshiftproject.com.

Jinx Art Space is owned and operated by local artists and business owners Michelle Schutte and Django Bohren, and located at 306 Flora Street. Jinx is an artist collective in the heart of the Bellingham Arts District. The art and music venue has become a nexus for local artists and musicians since opening nearly three years ago when it quickly filled an important void in the Bellingham music and arts scene. The space has provided 14 work studios for visual artists and 3 practice spaces for artists and musicians with a broad spectrum of experience, a gallery to showcase monthly art shows, and an all-ages music venue for over 100 shows and around 300 bands in the last few years. Since opening, Jinx has received the Mayor’s Arts Award (nominated by the Bellingham Arts Commission), as well as Best Gallery from the Cascadia Weekly and an Appreciation Award from What’s Up Magazine for support of the arts.

Make.Shift is a Bellingham-based nonprofit established in 2008 that supports independent musicians through innovative and environmentally friendly programs. With programs such as bicycle-powered generators (used to power amplified music), and the Magic Van (available to local bands for touring throughout the PNW), Make.Shift has worked steadily towards their goal of supporting musicians while keeping the environment in mind. For some time, the non-profit has searched for a physical home from which to base these operations as well as provide additional arts and music resources to the community. The plan for a new space to provide affordable band practice space, a community silkscreening studio, a local art gallery, and a resource library, in addition to other prospective ideas such as a rentable darkroom, has been forming since the non-profit first worked towards a prospective lease agreement for a different address. Volunteers were forced to continue their search for a commercial space in downtown Bellingham when those negotiations fell through in February.

“We had checked out virtually any vacant space on the market that even vaguely resembled what we were looking for.” (Make.Shift Director Cat Sieh)

After hearing for several months of the non-profit’s struggle to find a space, Michelle Schutte contacted Cat Sieh and made a proposal. The resulting agreement means that Make.Shift will absorb the existing Jinx space, while expanding the business to incorporate the new projects and programs.

“Owning Jinx has been an extraordinary experience, but recently we have found ourselves wishing for more time and energy to devote to the project. We hadn’t even considered selling Jinx before I had a sort of epiphany. I realized that Make.Shift was looking for a space to do much of the same thing we’ve been doing at Jinx for years, but on a bigger scale, and that handing the business over to them may be the perfect solution to both of our problems.” (Jinx Co-founder Michelle Schutte)

“Jinx has earned a deep respect in our music and arts communities. We want to keep the programs that have made Jinx such a unique place, and to expand to create even more opportunities for artists and musicians.”
 (Make.Shift Director Cat Sieh)

The group plans to devote additional studio space for musicians, while encouraging current tenants to keep their studios. Schutte said she is confident that Make.Shift will work to retain the character of the space, and continue to provide a home for her current tenants.

“Jinx has a personality of its own in our community and selling it means handing over not only the physical space, but also all of our artists, renters, and supporters. The real value of our business can be found in our people. It’s a special situation, and I trust that Make.Shift understands that. I know that they will take what we’ve created, add their own ideas, energy, and volunteer-power, and make it even better.” (Jinx Co-founder Michelle Schutte)

At this point, Jinx and Make.Shift management hope to include Whatcom All-ages Arts and Music (WhAAM!) in the new space, but final arrangements to combine efforts have been put on hold pending negotiations.

“Jinx, Make.Shift, and WhAAM! have each operated separately for years, and the best case scenario will find us all in the same building. I’m certain that collecting all three organizations under one roof will create a force to be reckoned with. I’m just really excited to see what happens next.”

Schutte will continue to run the space through June 30, when Make.Shift will take over operations. The space will reopen with few changes in August. Make.Shift staff will work with Schutte and the existing tenants to create as few disruptions as possible during the transition process. Make.Shift will retain and incorporate the name Jinx Art Space.”>more

This comes as a surprise to us as much as it does to our donors and the broader Bellingham community. Make.Shift and WhAAM staff worked tirelessly to make 111 Unity our home, and were given only a brief emailed statement as to why negotiations were terminated, noting that building owners lacked the time to rent out the building.

We want to assure our donors that the funds earmarked for our music hub will still go toward this wonderful new space as soon as we find an appropriate building. We’re back on the hunt, and we’re optimistic!

WANT TO HELP? We’re looking for a 2,000-4,000 square foot space within or close to the downtown entertainment district. Let us know if you have ideas!

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding the project: www.makeshiftproject.com

Whatcom All-Ages Arts & Music and Make.Shift are hoping to create an all-ages music hub in their new space at 111 Unity St., and though their fundraiser was a success, they’re still looking for donations of materials.

The groups created an online fundraiser with the goal of raising $8,500 by Jan. 15. In the month and a half that the fundraiser was open, the groups raised about $3,500 more than their goal. The money will go toward creating an all-ages concert space, affordable band practice space, a resource library and more.

More…