The Tacoma Art Museum

We visited the new Tacoma Art Museum for the first time this weekend, and I’ll admit I was a little disappointed to discover that I had missed the inaugural exhibition of Northwest Mythologies, an exhibition of Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan, and Guy Anderson, because we’d gotten so involved in moving this summer.

Still, one of the benefits of living in this part of Tacoma is that we’re a mere ten minutes from downtown with its waterfront, museums and restaurants. If I’m going to move into the city, I’m certainly going to take advantage of all its benefits. And though this museum isn’t as large as either the Seattle Art Museum or the Portland Art Museum, I’ll guarantee you that I’ll be visiting this one much more than I ever visited the other two.

What we did get to see was Dale Chihuly’s Mille Fiori and an exhibit by Nathan Oliveira, a California artist I’ve never had a chance to see before. While many of his early existential works did not particularly impress me, his more optimistic later works took on a certain resonance they might not have had when seen within the context of his life’s work.

Unfortunately, visitors were restricted to taking pictures of Dale Chihuly’s work, both his current show, Mille Fiori, and his permanent works. Though I’m sure many visitors were impressed by:

As spectacular as this display was, and a roomful of colorful, plant-like glass in brilliant colors is certainly spectacular, personally I preferred his earlier works, as represented by:

Perhaps exposure to new works merely serves to remind us what we really like.

Camp 6, Pt. Defiance Park

I found it somewhat ironic that my entrance to Pt. Defiance Park, which symbolically turns out to be the exit for most visitors, should be “Camp 6,” a historical display of logging equipment donated by Weyerhauser.

The irony of the logs used as skids on these towering machines being thicker than any of the trees I was able to observe on my walks wasn’t entirely lost on me, either.

No matter how much destruction of the native forests these machines were responsible for, there’s an undeniable fascination with their sheer size and power, a size merely suggested by these shots, for it would take a movie camera to truly put them into perspective.

Strangely, the combination of giant logs and steel suggests surrealistic images from Mel Gibson’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and perhaps that explains their fascination for me. Perhaps they somehow suggest long-forgotten links between nature and the industrial revolution, links easily forgotten while sitting in front of a computer screen.

What I Did Tonight

Originally I’d planned on posting pictures from my first walk through Point Defiance Park tonight, but I guess plans are only plans when life intrudes.

Dawn had open house tonight, so I promised to take care of Gavin for the night.
A week ago I purchased a game for my computer for him to play, and the first thing he said when he entered the door was that he wanted to play the “puter.”

Turns out he wanted to play the “puter” most of the night. Hopefully, I haven’t taken the first steps in transmitting a dangerous addiction to the unlucky child, because his father might be a worse computer addict than I am, and that’s saying a lot.

Luckily even digital pictures last over night, so I’ll post this picture of Gavin at the computer for tonight and then post my first pictures of Pt. Defiance Park sometime tomorrow after I take my daily walk.

After all, having the grandchildren around is just as much a part of this new living experience as taking a walk in the park.

Back on Line

I just noticed my last entry has disappeared from the main page, so I felt compelled to post a short notice letting people know that I haven’t disappeared in the middle of the move and will be back on line shortly, at least as soon as I’m able to find the poetry books still stacked in boxes in the garage.

We’re having a little trouble downsizing from 2,200 square feet to 1,600 square feet and moving from a rather large double garage to a rather small double garage.

Boxes crowd otherwise empty rooms, and modular furniture lays around like a discarded erector set, waiting to be reshaped to fit strange new shapes and locations.

Though we don’t have a phone yet, except for our much-used cell phones, the cable modem was installed late Monday and the computer room is nearly usable, though it desperately needs to be picked up and odds and ends put away.

I spent most of yesterday at Sears ordering a storage shed to hold garden tools and buying a portable cart to house at least some of my woodwooking tools.

Somehow it doesn’t feel quite right spending the day reading poetry and writing blog entries until the house is settled in and I can find all the utensils needed to cook a meal. Eating out’s fine, but I think I still prefer home-cooked meals.