A puffer fish looms behind an installation of blown glass, perhaps imagining how he would blow glass if he could. A school of predatory lion fish slither among museum-quality glass sculptures. Has global warming caused the Puget Sound to inundate our lobby? Nope. This is Oddwater, the new summer exhibit at the Oregon Coast Museum, in Newport, Oregon. Colorful blown art glass, created by artists at The Edge Art Gallery in South Beach, Oregon, are inside all of the displays, complementing the strange creatures of Oddwater. According the aquarium website, “The glass art was created specifically for each display based on the actual habitat structures and the requirements of the animals.” The result? A unique fusion of art and aquaria. I may have to leave the comfy confines of this hotel for trip to Newport!

-Dale

Just last year, our friend Josh posted his nostalgic memories of Point Defiance Park’s Never Never Land. At the time, a few structures, including the well-known statue of Humpty himself remained. But since then, even that has disappeared. As Kathleen Merryman reported in her News Tribune column, almost all of the final remaining structures have been demolished.

Kerryman writes, “All that’s left standing of the original attraction are the Old Woman’s Shoe and a pile of giant concrete books. If I had a dozer, I’d put them out of their misery.” So much for sentimentality. By her own admission, the columnist isn’t from these parts. No kidding.

A few photos from the park’s best years are posted online. Go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page for a slide show. And if you want to see what the storybook scenes looked like just prior to their annihilation, you’ll do no better than to drop by Tacoma Gnome’s blog.

–Dale

Not too long ago, Wright park went by another nickname. The park, which had fallen to neglect and incursions from unsavory characters, was known as Fright Park. Now, a multimillion dollar restoration project has turned all that around, and this public space is a real jewel. Here are a few of the improvements, noted at Tacoma Daily Index:

– Refurbishing the iconic maiden and lion statues donated to the park by Clinton Ferry in 1891 and prominently placing them at the park’s entry ways

– Initiating Master Plan designs to re-establish the long view corridor which historically ran through the center of the park

– Relocating the basketball court from the center of park to a more visible location for improved safety

– Adding 97 trees and rerouting pathways to protect the root system the park’s Champion Sugar Maple

– Renovating the 1930’s brick restroom constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA); retaining the historic exterior of the building while modernizing the interior for safety and efficiency

– Renovating the Bowling Green and horse shoe pits that have been part of the park for nearly 80 years

Good Stuff,
–James

At Savi Day Spa, located inside our hotel, visitors begin getting special, personalized treatment from the time they make their initial phone call. Co-owner Sharon Kline tapped her husband, songwriter Myron Kline, to produce a jingle that callers would hear while on hold. (If you want to hear how it sounds, do what I did: call the spa at (253) 627-2000 and ask Stephanie to put you on hold. She’ll gladly oblige. Then do what I’ve also done: call back and make an appointment.) Myron also wrote the music that accompanied guests as they walked into “Museo”, the gala benefit that we hosted in March for the Tacoma Art Museum. Who knows? Maybe you’ll hear more from Myron around our halls or phone lines….

–James

With 18 years of operation under its belt, the Downtown Tacoma Farmers’ Market is an established tradition. Over 80 booths of the season’s freshest produce, flowers, artisan crafts, jams & jellies, live music and more are returning to the city beginning May 15th for their seasonal run through October 16th. Here’s the schedule:

Day: Thursday
Time: 9:00am to 2:00pm
Where: Downtown on Broadway between 9th and 11th

–James

Billy Morris once assisted Dale Chihuly as a gaffer, which, in glass art circles, refers to a master glassblower who shapes glass as it comes out of the kiln. In other words, he worked directly with Chihuly to help execute that master’s designs and ideas. Since then, he has moved on to become one of the most original, creative and virtuosic glassblowers in the world. Inspired by ancient civilizations, tribal cultures and mythology, his sculptures raise ordinary artifact to the level of art. Raise yourself in our elevator to the 25th floor and see the work he’s done for us.

–Dale

One of my pet peeves about the Web is that whenever creative organizations launch a new website, all-too-often, navigation is difficult and those fancy-schmancy flash animations render the download times interminably long. Ugh. Thankfully, this is not the case with the Tacoma Art Museum site. Easy to surf, yet pretty to behold, this site is, in my opinion, a model of Web design. (Such good design doesn’t come cheap, I’m sure.) Here’s an opportunity for you to help the museum pay for its facelift: October 18, TAM will be holding its annual gala benefit. Show up and pitch in!

–Dale

We’ve been online for a while now, bloggin’ and all, but I have to give it up for our sister hotel, the crazy cool Hotel Lucia in downtown Portland, Oregon. They just joined us in the digital world, but not with a blog as you might expect. The hotel went and one-upped us. It’s on Facebook!

I was admittedly reluctant at first to give it its due praise, but eventually I caved. The page is just too slick. It gives users updates on hotel packages, an interactive map, a history of the hotel, a place to make a review, AND it streams OUR blog right there! If you’re a fan (not in the literal sense), you can even upload your own photos of the hotel right there. And I hear that they may be offering promo codes there for anyone interested in visiting our neighbor down south.

If you have some free time at work (come on, I know you have some free time), you should take a look. Let us know what you think, we just might have to make one ourselves.

Consider yourself poked,
- James

Your knowledge of Tacoma’s historic lore would not be complete without the story of “Gallopin’ Gertie,” the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge that collapsed in 1940. I just ran across some footage (on YouTube, of course) that depicts the collapse in color, up-close and personal. This footage is not for the faint of heart, but it does portray a heroic attempted rescue of a dog stranded in an abandoned car on the buckling monstrosity. All I can say is, wow.

–Dale

All too often, artists who work with historical models or with “antiquing” techniques, such as faux-distressed finishes, veer into pastiche and inauthenticity. It is as if they become mesmerized by the content of their artwork, be it 1950’s kitsch or Greek classicism, and lose their authorial control. Peter Powning does not have that problem. Take a look at this vase. Here’s how Peter describes his work with his kilned-glass pieces. “My work is meant to have the feel of the artifact. An emotional artifact made solid. A cultural artifact from some future/past, reconstructed or guessed at. Some parts original, some new, others assumed.” What makes such work legitimate? The clear-headed purposefulness behind it all. He suggests that ideas that characterize might include, “falling apart, pulling myself together, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, cultural fragmentation, the beauty of the spirit that has been tried and survived.” A lot of feeling goes into his work, and it is that emotional clarity that makes his worth both credible and incredible. You’ll find him on the 22nd floor.

–Dale