Viewcrest Apartments at 601 S Jackson Ave (the southeast corner of Jackson and Sixth Avenue) in Tacoma has a wonderful, metal security gate featuring the sun and moon. The relatively small brick apartment complex (8,000 square feet) opened in April 1960.
A brief moment of sunshine allowed me to snap this photo of the murals at 3823 North 26th Street. The heron is fairly recent, installed in 2010 and the original salmon part was created in 2007. The artist is Alexis St. John and her website is here http://alexisstjohn.blogspot.com
The Portland Avenue Community Center at 3513 E. Portland Avenue has a hidden mural on its free standing restroom building. It is a training building and has several different artists and styles and says a cheerful Hola (hello).
The Tacoma Mural Website shows that the lead artists are Rachel Dotson, Jeremy Gregory, Joni Joachims, Kelda Martensen and Chris Sharp. The artist team is Dionne Bonner, Kate Cendejas, Larine Chung, Mike Corcoran, Brad Dinsmore, Shanna Duncan, Josh Everson, Jani Freimann, Jill Frey, Rajaa Gharbi, Kathleen Gray, Alexandra Kerl, Trinda Love, Jena Marks, Marlin Peterson, Brad Pugh, Tenold Sundberg, Asia Tail and Patricia Vazquez Gomez.
I’ve been past this part of Ruston Way a bunch of times and hadn’t realized that it was the home of Tidal Pool, an art installation featuring mosaic shells and a sand dollar. This low lying piece is next to the fire station and between Duke’s Chowder House and Katie Downs.
An article about the lovely art can be found here http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/view/know_your_public_art_ruston_ways_tidal_pool/
and the artist’s website is here http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/view/know_your_public_art_ruston_ways_tidal_pool/
To continue art month, I took advantage of Tacoma’s Art at Work Studio Tour. The F.S. Building at 2926 S. Steele St. had three open studios.
The large warehouse building was constructed in 1908 as the Willamette Casket Co. with Frederick Heath as the architect. It was then the Gregory Furniture Manufacturing Co. In 1944 there was a significant fire and in 1945 the plant sold to the F.S. Harmon Manufacturing Co. In 1953 and 1955 there were two fires.
This is my seventh building that was designed by Frederick Heath. The others are:
Continuing my art month, I made a point to find art while visiting Woodinville today. The .62 acre DeYoung Park is located in Woodinville’s Town Center across the street from Molbak’s. It is known for hosting public events and features picnic tables under what is undoubtedly lovely in the spring wisteria.
The park’s statue which features a woman gardening with a dog by her side is titled Gardener. It was created by Georgia Gerber and installed in 2005. Ms. Gerber has an amazing portfolio of statues including the famous Rachel the Pig at Pike Place Market in Seattle. http://www.georgiagerber.com/
November is Art at Work Month in Tacoma and I try to focus on places somehow connected with art. http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/resource/ArtAtWorkTacoma/web/Overview.htm
My first place is Grant Center for the Expressive Arts at 1018 North Prospect Street in Tacoma. Their website states “At Grant, we use the expressive arts to promote excellence in all areas of academics. Students experience learning math, literacy, science and social studies through the visual arts, dance, drama and music.” The powered coated steel statue shown above was created by Mick Newham.It features four children involved with art (painting, ballet, acting and music).
This evening the family went to the Field House at the University of Puget Sound at 3326 North 11th Street, Tacoma. While there was a volleyball practice going on, we were there for a college fair. The building was constructed in 1948 and was host to some rocking groups in the 1960s including The Beach Boys, Elvis, Dusty Springfield, The Rascals, Ray Charles, the Steve Miller Band, Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night.