Tacoma Arts in Review: Mighty Tacoma at the Tacoma Art Museum - Closing April 24

One of the Tacoma Art Museum’s (TAM) greatest strengths is the attention it gives to local and regional artists. As a mid-sized museum, it does a lot with limited resources, has been a great contributor to the local community for many years, and is truly an anchor for our city. To mark its 75th anniversary,TAM presents locally-focused Mighty Tacoma through April 24.

Having grown up here, I am intimately familiar with Mighty Tacoma’s subject matter, making it difficult to judge the show objectively, as I am sure is the case with many who have experienced it. The general response I’ve heard has been “underwhelming”, but Mighty Tacoma deserves a closer look.

Mighty Tacoma is a dramatically nontraditional exhibition – strong conceptually, but composed of works that are drastically inconsistent in quality – and that is not a negative criticism. The show features mostly local artists, the subject matter is exclusively local – and we know that artists (local or not) as a group, create works of varying quality. It would be misleading for a show that is genuinely about Tacoma to not present the different levels of work we produce. So Mighty Tacoma trades the most reliable aspect of museum exhibition — consistent quality — for authenticity. This representative and open approach makes Mighty Tacoma an important exhibit, one that is uniquely appropriate for the big anniversary.

By showcasing an accessible medium that lends itself to objectivity – photography– and subject matter – urban landscape – Mighty Tacoma manages to capture a piece of the city with a clarity distinct from culture-defining touchstones like Chihuly and Beautiful Angle. The subject matter mostly portrays our beloved (and oft overplayed) urban landscape without going too far. Many of the pieces do focus on locally obvious landmarks but, thankfully, there are no images of the cone or the dome or Mount Rainier. A friend once described Tacoma as a “cult city.” It is, and this sensibility overwhelmingly informs much of the local aesthetic. There is no getting away from this in a show about Tacoma. The difficulty is in describing the city without becoming too heavy with connotation, wherein Mighty Tacoma succeeds.

The every-day plays a vital role in the show’s vision and works like Gary Lappier’s Untitled (National Auto Parts) and Untitled (Starlite Drive In) cut through the middling pieces. They are beautifully executed and capture what I love best about this town: the subtle beauty and implications of the surrounding variations of neglect, practicality, and normalcy.

The one thing missing from most of the featured works is people, but ongoing interactive projects compensate for this exclusion – including a photo shoot in the middle of the gallery open to all museum-goers. The photos are available on flickr and a select few are placed on a nearby bulletin board. It is a way for Tacomans and other visitors to interact with the exhibit and with each other, emphasizing the importance of community. This interactive component turns the museum show into an invitation to engage in a civic creation, fittingly setting the exhibition apart from its peers.

Mighty Tacoma is an earnest reflection of the city and its artwork, which usually defines transcendence by its rarity. It showcases the specific aesthetic of this place and taps into our strong sense of community. Out of town visitors probably will not get so much out of it but, frankly, I don’t care. This one is for us locals. Well done, TAM.

Review by Rebecca Solverson

Flikr stream of Tacoma portraits here

Mighty Tacoma, open through April 24
Tacoma Art Museum
www.tacomaartmuseum.org
open Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm, 3rd Thursdays 10am-8pm
Adults $9 / Students $8 / Members FREE

ABOUT TACOMA ARTS IN REVIEW
Tacoma Arts In Review, a new column on Exit 133, regularly shares timely reviews and stories on art happenings in Tacoma written by local college students and community members. For more information and application details, go here.