Today dear husband and I went off to Wayzgoose Letterpress and Book Arts Extravaganza at King’s Books. The place was packed! I loved walking through the store and visiting each book. Such creativity!
http://www.kingsbookstore.com/
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
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.
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!
Tacoma Public School has announced that it may close schools in order to save money. Foss is the high school they are considering and elementary schools with less than 300 students are also possibilities. These elementary schools are Franklin, Lyon, Roosevelt, Stanley, McKinley, Wainwright and Geiger. Geiger has had a program change and has been taken off the table. I thought over the next week or so, I’d take photographs of the mentioned schools and use them as my new places of the day.
Read more about possible school closures at : http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/01/19/1509242/foss-students-fret-over-possible.html#ixzz1Bn2OnEp6
Today’s school is Roosevelt Elementary School at 3550 E. Roosevelt Ave in Tacoma’s Eastside. Their school mascot is the Ram. Information provided by the Tacoma Public Library says the original school building was constructed in 1904 and later sold and moved to make way for the “new” building named in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt. The 1921 date can be seen clearly on the two columns on either side of the entrance. The building had major renovation, in fact looks like an entirely different building with the exception of the columns. Here is a photograph of the 1921 building
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/buildings/bldg1image.asp?j=4&o=4&n=24285&i=4828#text
I’ve driven past this sculpture in front of the Lakewood City Hall numerous times, but today I actually got out of my vehicle and took a good look at it. There is a lot going on with this piece, nine figures representing people in the military, a large globe, five benches, signage, inscribed bricks and landscaping. The sculpture honors veterans. Among the large metal figures are a Chaplin, a medical person, a foot soldier with his gun, a mechanic and others. The figures are stylized, but it is still apparent the jobs they represent. The primary construction materials are steel and bronze and the sculpture was completed in May 2003.
Per information provided by the Washington City/County Management Association, The project was spearheaded by the Lakewood Veterans Memorial Committee and reminds us of the sacrifices and services of the local military community. It also serves as a link between Lakewood and the large number of active duty, former and retired military personnel in our community. “More than 96,000 veterans reside in Pierce County with over 10,000 living in Lakewood. The memorial is the creation of Gig Harbor artist and military veteran Jim Mattern. (http://www.wccma.org/newsletter/0304wcmanews.pdf)
Here is the link to a story about the piece.
http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4093906.html
Jim Mattern: Sculptor
Lakewood Veteran’s Memorial
6000 Main St. SW
Lakewood, WA 98499
We ordered a latte for me, a vanilla Italian soda for the teen and a full monty bagel sandwich minus the bacon to share. They forgot the drinks, but felt bad about it and not only gave us our drinks but a get two free card. In addition to coffee, they offer wine and beer. The sandwich was very tasty and so were the drinks once they arrived.
http://beyondthebridgecafe.com/
http://www.facebook.com/bbc4life?ref=ts&v=info
Note: I’m sad to say that Beyond the Bridge Cafe closed its doors on May 14, 2011.
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/entertainment/spew-blog/2011/05/The-last-day-of-Beyond-the-Bridge-Cafe-tacoma-coffee-shop-closes-ben-and-patricia-rubke/
Ever since one of my Flickr friends posted a photo of a lovely pair of earring that he purchased at Traditions Cafe & World Folk Art in downtown Olympia, I’ve been wanting to try it out. The place has two components, the store and the restaurant but there is an easy flow between the two. We ordered our delicious and filling paninis at the counter and the staff brought them out to us. Afterward we shopped a bit and I purchased a green hat that I love and some dead sea salt soap. What struck me about both the store and the cafe parts is how happy every one seemed to be, both the employees and the customers. I’m sure we’ll be back 🙂
Their website is here
http://www.traditionsfairtrade.com/pages/tradhome.html
An explanation of the concept of Fair Trade is here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade
