The Great American Thing
We had the opportunity this last weekend to attend the opening of The Great American Thing at the Tacoma Art Museum. In my opinion this is the best exhibit I’ve seen in Tacoma. The breadth of artists represented while covering a common theme provides us with a unique opportunity to explore in depth a period of American social and art history. It isn’t merely a snapshot of a single artist or a few artists in a common medium. This show covers three galleries and includes 130 pieces from a long list of artists. Photographers, sculptors, and painters are all presented within the theme. From the Tacoma Art Museum website:
The Great American Thing explores the varied ways in which American artists from 1915 to 1935 conveyed what it meant to be a modern American. The exhibition takes its title from a prominent artist of this generation, Georgia O’Keeffe who asked, “How was the Great American Thing going to happen” if talented American artists continually traveled to Europe to create art, rather than seeking inspiration for their work at home? Featured American and European artists include Berenice Abbott, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Aaron Douglas, Arthur Dove, Marcel Duchamp, Archibald J. Motley Jr., Georgia O’Keeffe, Man Ray, Charles Sheeler, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Max Weber.
We really enjoyed the Margaret Bourke-White show that ended in January. This one was better.
On the other hand, the contemporary photography exhibit in the uppermost gallery didn’t do it for us. Some of the pinhole and vintage camera work was okay. I wasn’t a fan of the large scale color photos. To each their own.
Link to the Tacoma Art Museum: Current Exhibitions
1 comments
M Michael Mirra August 5, 2012
A requirement for “rain gardens” can make a lot of sense. At the Tacoma Housing Authority, we learned about rain gardens when we designed and built New Salisan starting more than 10 years ago. An important part of its design are its “bioinfiltration swales”. (Rain gardens, the new term, does seem more friendly.) They are a reason for many of the design awards that New Salishan won.
They are designed to keep 91% of the rain water that falls onto Salishan on site soaking into the ground so it never gets to the City’s storm water system and therefore never gets to Commencement Bay, or if the rain water does get there it is cleansed by the filtering action of the ground soil. This is important because an important environmental challenge around here is Commencement Bay and Puget Sound. A main problem is urban and agricultural run off. Rain gardens can help to reduce urban run off.
At Salishan I had some initial worries about rain gardens. My first concern was that I thought of them as experimental. Our engineers assured us, however, that it was a well understood technology. I must note though that when we got it built all these other engineers from around the country visited to see how it was done. That makes me wonder how well understood it was at the time. (I think it was understood well enough but Salishan was noteable mainly because of its scale. Nearly 200 urban acres may have been one of the largest uses of rain gardens.) My second concern arose from my imagination of seeing white water washing two year olds down the street. Yet, I have been at Salishan during the heaviest rain and the design really does work to capture, direct, slow and absorb the water. My last concern pertains to maintenance. Rain gardens are essentially engineered ditches with carefully layered soils, native vegetation and rocks. You have to teach people, especially children, to keep out of the rain gardens. This can be hard. There is not a 10 year old on the face of the earth who is satisfied with the arrangement of rocks he finds.
All in all, rain gardens have been a very good experience for us at New Salishan. We are pleased to model the technology starting 10 years ago. I also note that the rain gardens have become an attractive part of the landscape adding a lushness that we think is very appealling.
Michael Mirra
Executive Director
Tacoma Housing Authority