Tacoma, Washington’s Colorful Art Glass Scene

One thing that many people outside of the Seattle area may not know is that the Puget Sound region has a strong emphasis upon art through glass. Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, Washington. He became a forward thinking glass artist whose works can be found all over the world. They include huge chandeliers of glass that stretch five or six feet downwards as well as glass pieces in outdoor gardens. His contribution to glass making has had a big impact, especially here in the Puget Sound region.

As his birth place, Tacoma has taken a significant place in the world of glass artistry. Seattle is usually the city of choice for most visitors visiting our region. However, when it comes to glass arts, don’t overlook Tacoma.

A number of significant locations for glass art reside in the area of Tacoma known as the Museum District. I recently visited this area to check out the glass experiences.

My exploration started at Tacoma’s Art Museum. After finding pay-parking under the building, I entered the museum and took an elevator up to the main exhibition area. While I was here to look at the art glass, I checked out the rest of the museum as well since I was there.

At one end of the museum one finds rooms dedicated to thinking about the west, particularly as it pertains to Native Americans. The intent of the art displayed here is to provoke thought as to how we perceive native peoples and how art has influenced that perception. They also wanted to give a voice to native artists by displaying art from them as well.

In the rest of the museum, glass seemed to dominate the exhibits. Along the hallway a display of glass items filled some enclosed cases. Farther down the hallway was the Dale Chihuly room where there are examples of his signature work. There are collections based on color of bowls and items that resemble shells. There are also various colorful pots on display as well as more elaborate creations. They are beautiful pieces.

A little further along there is a large room with a wide variety of glass art pieces. These are not Chihuly pieces, but show the various formats of glass art. There are paintings on glass, utilitarian pieces made from glass, 3D pieces, and so much more. It is a wonderful display of the many ways that artists use glass as an artistic medium.

Besides the glass display, there were three other major exhibits. One was about deconstruction in art. The other focused on the art of one woman, Camille Patha. Her work was very modern for me. A third room had basically one focus, a display of window frames taken out of homes in the area. Their glass had been swiped with a reflective paint in places. It was a very abstract piece related to the Tacoma area.

After touring the art museum I headed a block away to the Union Station, a well known Tacoma landmark. As the old railroad station, it has a strong architectural presence in the city. In the large lobby there are some glass installations done by Chihuly so I stopped in. There is a security guard who will ask to see your ID. That’s because the back part of the building is now a courthouse.

In the center of the lobby hangs a very tall multicolored chandelier. It consists of many squiggly pieces of glass put together. Opposite the entrance on the second floor is a large arched window. In it various orange colored flower-like pieces glow as the sun shines through them. Above the entrance another art piece made of red glass poles lines the window. To the right of the entrance on the second floor sits a circle of metal with lengths of glass enmeshed throughout the circle. These four pieces are all quite large, and visitors can walk up the the second floor to get a closer look at them.

One can also go down a floor and there find some displays about the railroad era since that was the original purpose of the building.

Just around the corner from the Union Station is a bridge that crosses a highway and the railroad tracks. However, this is not an ordinary bridge. It again has the hand of Chihuly upon it. There are three main sections to the bridge. The first one is a covered area which has all kinds of glass pieces in the ceiling. It is indeed a kaleidoscope of color as one looks up. It is hard to photograph, however, as the light reflects and makes it hard to see all but a small portion of it at a time.

The second part consists of two pillars created from seemingly rough cut pieces of sea glass. They rise up on either side of the bridge. The third section is a wall display of various art pieces. I counted over a hundred pieces on display here. Each piece has its own display space so one can study them carefully. Sadly some of the glass coverings seemed to have been shattered. Fortunately, whoever tried to do that did not manage to completely break into the cases.

While there are places such as the Tacoma Art Museum where one must pay to see Chihuly glass pieces. It’s really nice that the bridge provides a place for anyone to enjoy his art. He has truly made a contribution to the city that removes barriers for people to see his work.

Across the bridge is the Glass Museum. Its cone shaped section is easily recognized. The museum faces the City Waterway with a nice view. There is also a plaza area here with a large pool. The pool contains a glass piece called Fluent Steps. I thought it was a fountain, but it’s only a glass structure. The glass is all clear glass, and I found it not very interesting. It was hard to distinguish the shapes. I have seen pictures of it at night, and I think that might be a better time to view it. The plaza itself has nice views of the area.

When one enters the Glass Museum, there are two main area to discover. To the right visitors can tour the museum with various glass pieces on display. When I was there, they featured a display of neon signs. There are also a wide variety of other objects. Some of them didn’t even seem to be made of glass.

One of my favorite parts was a display of glass pieces designed by children. They would submit a drawing of what they wanted to see made from glass, and the artists at the museum would create it for them as well as one to leave on display. Visitors can also view the child’s original drawing so they can see how well the glass artists translated the drawing into glass.

To the left, as one enters the museum, is a working glass studio known as the hot room. Here they are actually creating glass pieces. The day I visited, students from the Hill Top area of Tacoma were there working on pieces. Apparently the Glass Museum set up a program that encourages youth from more disadvantaged areas to participate in glass art creation.

There is a viewing area for visitors to sit and watch the artists working. A guide explains what is happening and also answers questions. A camera picks up some of the action and displays it on a screen above. People were sitting there for a long time watching the artists

Before I left Tacoma, there was one more Chihuly piece I wanted to see, but I didn’t know exactly where to find it. The information said it was at the University of Washington Tacoma campus which was across the street from the bridge entrance. However, there were a number of buildings and no sign indicating where this installation was. I finally asked someone at the library desk, and she directed me.

The piece is in building T18 which is about halfway up the hill on the left. What you are looking for is a large chandelier, and it is found in a corner room on the second floor. When I was there, no one was in the room, but I can image it would be a little awkward to go in to see it if there were students studying in the room. The chandelier is all one color, orange, and really stands out in the center of the small room.

With that it was time for me to face the traffic and head home. As I mentioned these places are in the Museum District of the city, and if you enjoy museums there are others around that are worth visiting. In fact I may need to return because there are some other locations there I would like to see.

Chihuly art glass pieces can be seen in many places. Is there a piece you have seen in your area that you have enjoyed? I’d love to hear about that in the comment section below. Thanks for reading along this week. Before you go, why not hit the star below to indicate you have enjoyed this post? Until next week…