South Tacoma Way has some spiffy public art. Today I stopped to admire this mural located at 5438 South Tacoma Way which features scenes from the strips past and present. The mural is on the Heritage Bank Building. Although that is the name of building, it is vacant with Heritage Bank is down the street at 5448 South Tacoma Avenue.
To see more photographs of the property both before and after the mural, go here.
http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/murals.asp
Bryant Montessori, located at 717 S. Grant Ave., Tacoma, WA 98405 is one of the Tacoma Schools that might be flux. In 1998, this school received a grant to become a public school using the Montessori method. It now provides preschool to 8th grade education.
The original Bryant building was constructed in 1891 and was named after William Cullen Bryant who is remembered for writing Thanatopsis (alright I don’t actually know that poem, but here it is)
https://www.msu.edu/~cloudsar/thanatop.htm
The original building was lovely and held elementary through high school classes and also housed the school board offices and administration. High school students in the late 1800s paid tuition fees and in 1897 it was reduced from $2.50 to $1.50 per month. In any case after 70 years, the building was demolished and the “new” Bryant opened in 1962. A photograph of the original building can be found here. http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=2&o=2&n=15872&i=3774#text
The district proposal currently on the table is to close nearby Franklin Elementary School and use that building to house the Bryant program. Originally the intent had been to house the entire Bryant program at Franklin, but now it is looking more likely that the elementary portion of the Bryant program will move to Franklin and the middle school program would join Geiger Montessori which will move to the vacated Hunt Middle School. This would allow at least some of the Franklin students to at least have the option of staying in the Franklin Building if they wanted a Montessori style of education. Per the newspaper article below “A variety of programs, including Head Start and others, would move from the old Madison School site to the Bryant Elementary site”. Everybody clear?
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/03/10/1579446/tacoma-district-leans-toward-closing.html
Update 7/11 Bryant Montessori is staying put.
http://www.mcmenamins.com/426-grand-lodge-home
This lodge features a full restaurant, a movie theater where food and drink from the restaurant are offered, a soaking pool, small bars and 77 European style guest rooms. The building was constructed in 1922 as an Masonic and Eastern Star home. In 2000 the building was renovated and opened as a McMenamins. The history of the building can be seen in the historic photos and original art hanging on the walls.
We checked into the Lodge around 4:00 and had dinner, watched the most recent Harry Potter movie (yes, it is that dark) and enjoyed the soaking pool. This morning there was a Continental breakfast. All in all, a delightful, relaxing time away.
This morning I was traipsing around taking photographs and the desk clerk noticed me. He asked if I had a shot of the theater and I said kind of (I took a cell phone photo during the movie, really it was an awful photo!). He said it was much better to take a photo during the day with the lights on and then he took me upstairs and unlocked the theater for me! How nice is that!
At 1012 South 11th Street in Tacoma’s Hilltop area there is a mural of four individuals against the background of Mt. Rainier. Per the Tacoma-Pierce County Public Art Tour website (Taylor.http://wspdsmap.ci.tacoma.wa.us/website/Art2/viewer.htm), “This mural memorializes key contributors to the Hilltop Community. Including, Alberta Canada, Ernest E. Brazil, Frank Russell, and Virginia Taylor”. It was created in 2004 by Bob Henry, who has other mural around town.
The artist’s website can be found here:
http://www.muralmastersnw.com/index.html
Originally uploaded by Gexydaf
The Art Gallery at Freighthouse Square has some lovely Northwest art. We have purchased several pieces here and appreciate that we can have some original art at a doable price. It is located on the upper level of Freighthouse Square beyond the food court. It is run as an artist cooperative and usually at least one of the artists is on site.
602 East 25th Street, Suite 60
253-383-9765
http://www.freighthousesquare.com/
http://www.freighthousesquare.com/Merchants/Freighthouse_Art_Gallery.html
This scenic mural is located at 3265 South Union just north of Center Street in Tacoma. It is painted on a retaining wall and features Mt. Rainier and lovely madrona trees. The artist is unknown and I also couldn’t readily find any information about the date of the art.
Today we went to the Artist Craft Fair and walked away with a darling pair of earrings, some pie on a stick and an interesting new book. But more importantly I walked away with the feeling that in my small little way I was supporting the local community.
Their website is here
http://www.kingsbookstore.com/
An article about the store can be found here
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/culture/kings_books_an_old_favorite_revamped/
As a side note, I just heard today that one of my other favorite bookstores in Seattle is closing because of the economy. It is so important to support quality local businesses!
The City of Tacoma has a wealth of wonderful murals, many of them recent. This one is located at 38th Street & Portland Ave (3804 Portland Avenue) and the lead artist is Chris Sharp. Participating artists include Shanna Duncan, Asia Tail and Patricia Vazquez Gomez.
And interview with Chris Sharp can be found here:
http://www.exit133.com/5139/a-conversation-with-chris-sharp
and more info is here
http://thetelephoneroom.blogspot.com/2010/08/chris-sharp-i-dont-hate-anyone_02.html
More information about the Tacoma Mural Project is here:
http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/murals.asp
As I was taking some photos of the mural, two young men came up to me and asked me to take their photo!
Forza is a relatively small chain with 23 locations and today I stopped at the Forza at 1202 S Union St., Tacoma, WA 98438. I met a dear friend and we had coffee and visited. Twas a lovely after work event.
http://www.forzacoffeecompany.com/
Update: This Forza location closed in early 2012 and the space is available for lease.
