Tacoma Arts in Review: Tacoma’s Urban Forest

On view downtown until the end of May

Daily, I drive to the post office, grab the mail and continue on to work. Left turns lead me to Pacific Avenue where I hurry by store windows, closed bars and coffee shops. But these days, a new sight greets me: thanks to Urban Forest Project, the typical harried and rushed morning drive is infused with dozens of individual creative explorations of art and nature. On nearly every Pacific Avenue street post hangs a different banner, representing the environmental vision of artists who participated in Tacoma’s Urban Forest project. 85 uniquely captivating and artfully-designed banners promote the importance of trees, the environment, and creative expression, together creating “a forest of thoughtful images in downtown,” as the Urban Forest website states.

The Tacoma Urban Forest project stems from the Urban Forest Initiative, the global effort to increase tree canopy coverage in urban areas. The initiative started in New York Time’s Square in 2006, soon expanding to the west coast and aiding Tacoma’s goal to enlarge the tree canopy coverage from 13 to 30 percent by 2030.

Get out and enjoy The Urban Forest before it comes down at the end of May. The majority of the banners were created by local designers, artists and students, such as Aaron Bloom, Caytlyn Chilelli, David Day, Holly Senn, Heather Stajgr and Mauricio Robalino. The project is one of the many visible ways the City showcases broad environmental efforts and engages our creative community by activating local talent to enhance the urban landscape in Tacoma.

Although nothing beats the first-hand experience, the Urban Forest Project has an excellent website where you can view all the banners, as well as additional tree-themed images created by local artists. When the street banners come down, they will be repurposed into unique bags available for purchase with proceeds of the sales benefiting EverGreen Tacoma – the urban forestry program which plans, manages, protects and preserves the natural and planted vegetation in Tacoma. Learn more at here.

Public art is something to be celebrated, and is a real treat for both Tacoma residents and visitors—from Chihuly’s glass, Spaceworks storefront installations, Beautiful Angle posters and numerous DIY art projects that pop up overnight – there is much to see and share. The creative community is active and loud here in Tacoma and these voices represent my favorite part of this city. Keep it strong, Tacoma!

Poster images by Chris Boswell, Julie Kappelman, Karly Siroky and Therese Cuff courtesy of the City of Tacoma, Urban Forest Project website.

Review by Erin Bailey

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.