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

Once upon a time, at the historic bebop jam sessions in New York and New Orleans of the 1930s and ‘40s, you could see greats like sax legend Charlie Parker swinging alongside newcomers, old-timers, has-beens and never wases. That was the beauty of those jams. You never knew where the next surprising talent would come from. That’s what the Tacoma Urban Arts Festival is like. It’s free, it’s all ages, and it gives artists specially discounted booths to encourage them to make the leap from talented amateur to pro. The music line-up also gives an inside track to newer musicians.

Date: June 29
Time: 12 p.m. to dusk
Where: Fireman’s Park at 803 ‘A’ St.

Although the website was unavailable last time I checked, try clicking here for more info.

–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

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

The Inuit supposedly have over 100 synonyms for ice. Add Peter Bremers to the mix and that vocabulary gets exploded exponentially. Bremers, who deals in kilned-formed glass, makes pretty much one thing: icebergs. But the variety of colors, shapes and moods of these pieces makes those silent giants a world unto itself. If you step off the elevator on the 24th floor, you will be able to get a taste of his talents. As Rosemary Ponnekanti wrote in a recent Tribune article, “Bremers’ cast glass “Iceberg,” a teardrop hole carved into a huge, ice-blue hunk, is flanked by stunning images of the Greenland icebergs that inspired his work.”

–Dale

Looking to get a glimpse of Tacoma through the eyes of tourists past? The easiest way to do this is to browse the Tacoma Public Library’s collection of over 3,000 postcards boosting attractions of bygone years at the library’s website. The database is very user-friendly. Just try searching on keywords “Hotel” and “Point Defiance Park” for starters and then make up your own from there. Or take a look at the various categories. Here’s one that I thought was kind of cute.

–Dale

44 artists will be represented at our fine inn. Yet, undoubtedly, the piece de resistance will be the outdoor sculpture created by Greece’s Costas Varotsos. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, his 104-foot sculpture (name TBA) will sit out on the front lawn of our hotel. To get a sneak peek via an artist’s rendering of the piece, check out the recent New Tribune article here.

Dale

Now that the days of endless rain and snow are upon us, if you’re a parent, you might be thinking of ways to keep your kids from climbing the walls. What better way to do that than to give them a REAL wall to climb? Edgeworks Climbing Indoor Rock Gym is the perfect place to do that. Each third Friday of the month they offer a special discount to families. Check it out. This is some exercise your kids are bound to grab on to.

-James