Mystery city revealed: Tacoma!

Dawn, Julia and I begin the 3rd Thursday Art Mingle
at the Tacoma Art Museum.

Several people thought the Mystery City in my last post was Seattle, but it's actually TACOMA, Washington!

I took these photos last Thursday during Tacoma's 3rd Thursday Art Mingle, when all three downtown museums offer free admission from 5-8 and numerous galleries also participate. For info: http://tacomaartgroup.org/

After a delicious dinner at the downtown Indochine, we walked to the Tacoma Art Museum, where we took in some of the dazzling art glass by Tacoma native Dale Chihuly.

We also rounded a corner to see this giant cardboard dog, with a feeding dish that collected donations to help arts organizations.

Big dog by Scot Fife, archival cardboard

 This oil painting called to me -- it goes so well with my jacket:

"Inner Prism," Carl Morris, oil, 1967

Next we headed back outside in the balmy summer evening and walked through the famous Chihuly Bridge of Glass, 500 feet of stupendous glass art that crosses over the highway and connects downtown with the Museum of Glass. Here is just a tiny portion of the ceiling:

At the other end of the bridge, outside the Museum of Glass, is this reflecting pool plus several other  installations:

This big cone (above as viewed from the bridge) is the outside of the museum's hot shop. We decided it looked like a volcano.

Here's the scene inside the cone. We relaxed into auditorium seating and watched the hot shop team work on a giant bottle. The action is also projected on a large screen while a commentator describes what's going on, although he was hard to hear over the roaring of the fire and fans. We decided this would be a great way to spend a drizzly winter day, hunkered down in the warm auditorium, mesmerized by the fire and molten glass.

Then we headed over to the Washington State History Museum, where this glowing painting greeted us:

"The Artist Dreaming," Jack B. Sabon, oil, 2012

 

"Da-He-Tih-Hi Button Robe," Michelle Price, 2010

This beautiful wool and abalone shell button robe by Michelle Price is explained in the sign below. Click on it for a larger view if you have trouble reading it.

 Another wonderful piece of fiber art is this shawl by Chholing P. Taha:

"Blue Sky Shawl," Chholing P. Taha (Cree First Nation), 2011

Just before closing time, Dawn finally found what she wanted to show us -- this team of oxen that she said was one of her favorite pieces in the history museum.  

Planes, trains and oxen. Go Dawn!

 Have a colorful day