Color at Tacoma's Museum of Glass

Part of Dale Chihuly's glass ceiling outside the Museum of Glass.

For a sure shot of color, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma always delivers. Over the weekend, Dave and I spent a few hours there taking in the exhibits and watching a team of glassblowers do their dance in the Hot Shop.

This huge grey cone is the outside of the Hot Shop. It's one of Tacoma's most distinctive landmarks.

To enter the museum, you walk over a highway on the Bridge of Glass, which features a ceiling of renowned Tacoma native Dale Chihuly's organic sea forms (top photo). The sides of the bridge, next two photos below, feature Chihuly's large, whimsical vessels.

Our favorite part of the museum is the Hot Shop, which has auditorium seating facing a large glassblowing studio. A moderator explains what's going on as the glassblowers work, and a screen above gives you a different perspective.

The three-person team we watched made wide glass bowls, which each started as just a little blob of molten glass on the end of a hollow pole. The blob was blown, twirled, heated, dipped in more glass and shaped over and over until the final result was cut from the pole and taken away to applause.

Looking up from inside the Hot Shop dome.

We spent at least an hour in the Hot Shop in our front-row seats, soaking in the warmth and watching the dance. Then we headed into the exhibit rooms

These next three photos are from an exhibit of hard-edged laminated optical and pigmented glass by Michael E. Taylor:

The next room had Chihuly's organic pieces:

And a third exhibit was filled with glass and steel sculptures by Albert Paley:

As always, I went away inspired. 

Have a colorful day