City Seen

Hop on the Magic Bus

“People all over the world travel and share their experiences,” observes Cindy Arnold. Her company, Live Paint, entertains and enlightens children using travel themes and motifs. Arnold leads interactive storytelling and process-oriented art projects at events held at schools, preschools and libraries. During an upcoming session, August 14 – 22, Live Paint will help Tacoma Daycare and Preschool celebrate ninety-seven years of service to local families. On the first day of the event, children will create and decorate “magic” suitcases, then fill them with stories of travel adventures, real and imaginary. The stories will then be shared at the all-school celebration on the 22nd.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?

Photo by Chris Tumbusch

There’s at least one local polar bear whose survival may be endangered, pending efforts to find the beast a permanent home. Made of recycled plastic bags, the bear was created as a public art project at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium on World Ocean Day. Ursus Plasticus, conceived by Jennevieve Schlemmer, is intended to remind those who meet him to think twice about using environmentally unfriendly materials to cart home groceries and the like. “I did some research and learned how much garbage is in our oceans,” explains Schlemmer. “A lot of it is plastic bags, which kill millions and millions of critters every year.” Plasticus will be entered in the Tacoma Art Museum Biennial and Schlemmer may display him in an upcoming group show of art from recycled materials. For the time being, though, the zoo is still a good place to find polar bears.

Tricky Wicker

Photo by Peeta Tinay

The central Tacoma warehouse studio where expert wicker weaver Peeta Tinay works holds many of the Victorian-era pieces that she refurbishes. But the materials and objects around her workbench also hint at the other ways wicker, rattan, willow strips and split hickory can be used. Tinay creates and sells trays, tables, pet beds and planters that seem to be obvious items for fabrication from wicker. It’s her custom work, though, that shows the side of her craft that’s more creative than functional. “Almost anything is possible,” says Tinay. She’s made wicker airplanes and cars for a Canadian concern and has provided embellishments for clothing designer Cynthia Rowley, who used the accents in her spring fashion line.

Logging Sculpture

Photo by Chris Tumbusch

Lumbering along in front of the Enumclaw Public Library are two oxen. They’re enormous. Beside them, a drover, and tethered to them, a giant log. They’re made of bronze and steel and sit atop a massive piece of stone from a local quarry. The Logging Legacy Foundation, a group of local citizens in and around Enumclaw, has brought into being a very substantial bronze sculpture. Unveiled on June 14, with over six hundred in attendance (on a cold day), the piece is dedicated to the profession of logging and to the thousands of lives lost in the industry throughout the state. The artist is Enumclaw native Dan Snider, a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Artist Association, whose work has been displayed all over the region. Complete with a stone walkway and landscaping, the monument (costing around one-third of a million dollars) was cast by The Bronze Works Foundry in Tacoma. Says Tom Poe of the Logging Legacy Foundation: “This is a must-see in the Pacific Northwest.”

Written by Jessica Corey-Butler and Jonathan Shipley