Tag Archives: art

Washingtonia Domus

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I’ve been meaning to take photos of the five metal palm trees along 26th Street in the Dome District and today was the day! The palms were designed by Kurt Kiefer and the installation is called Washingtonia Domus”. The Tacoma Weekly did a great write up on the art and that article can be found here: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/art/public_art_dome_district_palms/

I’ve taken these photos with my Hipstamatic App on my phone.  It’s probably my favorite app ever! So very cool. This time I tried various film/lens setting and got some interesting result.

http://www.hipstamaticworld.com/index2.php#/home/

 

Clay Art Center For all of your Pottery and Ceramics needs

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I don’t really have any pottery or ceramic needs, but if I was so inclined to be creative with pottery or ceramics, Clay Art Center at 2636 Pioneer Way East – Tacoma, WA 98404 is where I would go! We are in search of bathroom tiles (still) and thought we’d check out this place. It is a large facility and they really do seem to have it all. Just not artistic pre-made ceramic tiles. Their website can be found here:  http://www.clayartcenter.net/

Madronna Oakland Community Garden

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The community garden at the corner of Center Avenue and Tyler Street has the most unusual art of any of the local community gardens. The entry arch is appropriately titled “Working”and features a hammer, chisel and gears. A near by bench has pliers and a saw. The art is by Otto Youngers. The garden itself, known as Tyler Square Park, is only half occupied, but that half is full of healthy looking vegetables.

Tacoma Weekly recently wrote an article on the space, It can be found here:
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/art/know_your_public_art_oakland_madronas_working_gateway/

The artist’s website is here: http://www.ottoyoungers.com/

  

 

Memorial Dumpstery

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I’ve long admired the bold graffiti style art on the dumpster at the corner of South 56th Street and South Sheridan. One side is abstract and the other gives homage to Vanessa, who lived between 1978 and 2003. I searched for information about this young woman, but had no luck. The art work is dated 2010.

      

Art on the Ave (Sixth Avenue)

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Today was 13th annual Art on the Ave and today’s new place is the Sixth Avenue Business District.  We knew from reading status updates that parking was going to be tough, so we went to the TCC transit center and caught the #1 bus to Sixth Avenue.  It let us out withing a block of the festival.  It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been to this festival and it has really grown with lots of quality art for sale.  We purchased some 253 (the local area code) tshirts and I bought two hair clips.  We watched Vicci Martinez (recently on The Voice) belt out a couple of songs and then we had a cool drink and went home.  I think my favorite photo below is the guy who was filming Vicci Martinez on his iPad!

The website for Art on the Ave is here http://on6thave.com/art-on-the-ave.html

 

 

 

The 21st Street Bridge

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The 21st Street Bridge connects downtown Tacoma with the Port of Tacoma and is part of SR 509. The cable stay bridge was constructed in 1996 to replace the 11th Street Bridge (the Murry Morgan Bridge).

I was under the bridge (on the wrong side in this photo!) to attend an arts gathering which was fire dancers at the featured entertainment. How fun is that? Flair’s website is here:

http://tacomaflair.com/tag/tacoma/

Street Art in Tacoma

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Street Art by Gexydaf

This warm and sunny day I stopped at the corner of South 49th and Fawcett Avenue and captured the lovely street art. I don’t know who painted this street mural in the middle of the intersection, but it is really fun. Based on the hand prints there was at least one kid involved in the art. The center says “Be Here” and I think it says Groovy, but its partially faded away.  The Google Earth aerial photo below shows the intersection before the art was in place.

Morning Light at Union Station

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I was out and about unusually early this morning and just loved the light on Union Station at 1717 Pacific Avenue. The station was constructed in1911 by the architectural firm of Reed and Stem (who also designed Grand Central Station in New York City) and was originally used as a passenger station. In 1974 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was abandoned in 1984 and in 1990 – 1992 it was renovated for use as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The statue out front is called New Beginnings and was sculpted in 1984 by Larry Anderson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Station_%28Tacoma,_Washington%29

http://www.unionstationrotunda.org/

And here is one more photo taken 5/2/14

14097135704_7841d14e2b_b(1)

Tacoma Street Sign Project

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Sometime during the dreary winter months, this wonderful art project appeared on the side of the Merit Building at 951-959 S Market Street in downtown Tacoma. There is an associate Youtube video to be watched here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-D3nA7vTQ

The Merit Building is available for sale for $1,000,000 (bring your best offer). Per the listing information the building was constructed in 1909, has 32,000 square feet and has been gutted down to the frame. I remember going to a restaurant in the building which I believe was called the Judicial Annex and having the best split pea soup!

If you’d like to buy the Merit Building, the listing can be found here http://www.commercialmls.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=inventory.biodetailFS&ln=462987&eofficeid=&eagentid=22193

 

Over the building’s long life, it has been home to many businesses included the Hotel Kingston, Federal Tire Sales Co., Auto Tire Co., Hollywood Apparel Shop, Olympic Dairy Store & Ice Cream Parlor, Second Closet Thrift Shop, Know They Self Book Center, Afrikan Book Center and the African American Museum.  One of the employees of the Ice Cream Parlot later started the Baskin Robbins chain.

To see how the building looked in its glory days (1928), follow this link to the Tacoma Public Library

http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=1&o=4&n=2095&i=4290#text

 

Tacoma Central Police Substation

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Today I took a quick stop at the Tacoma Central Police Substation, Sector One at 1524 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way.  What attracted me to the building was the stones in a metal cage art, of which there are at least three.  I’m not finding information on them, though they seem to be designed to be educational.  I did find this document about other art at local police stations.

http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/resource/TA_PUB_Police.pdf