This Quetzalcoatl Mask in Tacoma’s Theater District (on Broadway between South 11th and South 13th) is a bronze, stainless steel and granite sculpture that represents an Aztec God (‘the feathered serpent or the rain god Tlaloc). There is another sculpture on the other side of the post. The artist is Doug Granum (http://www.douglasgranum.com/). He was also the sculptor for the Locomotive Monument, also downtown.
Tacoma has two little free libraries which are part of the Little Free Library Project. http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/.
This “Little Free Library” is located at 4617 North 10th Street, Tacoma, WA. It is a darling blue box with a white door and a wine cork handle. Inside there are about a dozen books and of the few that I had previously read they are good quality reads. It is part of a community movement which offers free books. Per the Wikipedia article, there are currently over 200 of these libraries. There are building plans to create the containers or participate may design their own. Each of the libraries is registered and can be located by their GPS coordinates. Per the website:
On Veteran’s Day it seemed appropriate to stop at the The Veteran’s of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Ladies Auxiliary, Eric G. Sandstrom, Post 969 (3510 McKinley Avenue East Tacoma, Washington 98404). There is a splendid mural on the building featuring a multicultural selection of men and women that have served in the US military.
Another hidden art treasure in Tacoma is the mural at Bergerson Terrace Apartments at 5305 South Orchard. The mural was installed in 2011 and the lead artists were Rachael Dotson, Joni Joachims and Jeremy Gregory.
606 Tacoma Avenue South is home to commercial space with a delightful gate that features the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
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: