Gray, gray, go away!

Outside Tacoma's Museum of Glass on Friday.

Aw, it's raining. We had a super long glorious sunny spell, then a few weeks of alternating rain and sun, and now it looks like the rainy season is seriously upon us. That means my camera and I will be looking for color in the gray for the next seven months or so.

Gray sky reflected in Glass Museum's hot shop dome.

Last Friday I took a visitor to the Tacoma Art Museum and the nearby Museum of Glass to escape the dreariness and find some color.

Well dang if the special exhibit at the Art Museum wasn't BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY! It was beautiful, evocative, delicately powerful film photography by Michael Kenna, but there was no color.

"Ten Silver Birches" by Michael Kenna, Japan, 2005.

"Nine Boats" by Michael Kenna, India, 2008.

The exhibit, which just opened and runs through March 24, 2013, is Memories and Meditations: A Retrospective of Michael Kenna's Photography. The first part of the exhibit focuses on images of Asia and industrial scenes. The second, opening Jan. 11, will feature images of Europe and the United States.

And then there was Chihuly!

 

"Opal Gray and Amber Seaform Set," Dale Chihuly, 1984.

Dependable, glorious color in glass by Tacoma's famous son, Dale Chihuly. The Art Museum has a room dedicated to a permanent collection of his work, and I often go there during the winter to sit and soak up the color.

Another view of the seaform set.

 

Glass vessel by Chihuly.

We took our reflected photo looking into this courtyard where Chihuly's big glass Japanese float balls are usually displayed, but they had just been taken in for the winter so that they wouldn't break in the cold.

Back outside, fallen leaves added a touch of color to the otherwise gray urban landscape.

Have a colorful day