Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/303828
barb sligl s u m m e r 2 0 1 4 | w e s t w o r l d 39 ere's a profound dichotomy at play: past and pres- ent, rough and sleek, tarnish and shine. I gaze up at the 2,364 organic glass shapes in Chihuly's dream-like Sea- form Pavilion on the Bridge of Glass, suspended as if a swarm of translucent jellyfish is lit through by sun- beams. Ahead is shimmering Commencement Bay and Puget Sound; below is the dull buzz of a traffic-filled thoroughfare we cross over as if in another dimension. Here, grit and gleam co-exist. When Andy Warhol said, "Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it," he might as well have been talking about Tacoma. e native son of another indus- trial city, Pittsburgh, Warhol put in a bold bid for a big bloom to swathe the iconic Tacoma Dome (looming large across the ea Foss Waterway from our vantage point on the Bridge of Glass). But floral didn't make the cut in this working-class town in 1982. Warhol's timing was off. ree decades later the Tacoma Art Museum's Flowers for Tacoma exhibit celebrated these same bright blooms and sparked a campaign to realize his vision: Citizens to Install Andy War- hol's Flower on Tacoma Dome. The town, it seems, has done a 180-degree turn as colossal as the dome itself. Tacoma is now known more as the hometown of Dale Chihuly, world-renowned guru of glass whose fame has helped bolster the city's reputation. Artist types have replaced the railroad workers and long- shoremen of the last century. At Tacoma Glassblowing Studio, the young man instructing me on how to shape molten glass loves working with his hands – literally. He doesn't wear the protective leather gloves I have on, saying his hands are like asbestos. He's being cheeky, of course, but there's a sense of pride in the tough side of this creative work. His calluses are hide-like, but he's able to shape a delicate horse out of glass in mere minutes. He learned the craft at Tacoma's Wilson High School (thanks to a special program supported by Chihuly at his alma mater). After stumbling upon the school's hot shop while skipping class, he thought, "Cool. What's this?" and enrolled in Glass Design. Today, he credits glassblowing with keeping him in school and calls himself a craftsman, eschewing the title of artist, perhaps to maintain working-class authenticity. Whatever the label (glassblower, foundry worker, sculptor), artists are now living and working in Tacoma much like in the storied birthplace of glassblowing, Murano, Italy. e small island off Venice has been the mecca of glassblowing since the 10th century, explains the docent at Hotel Murano in Tacoma (yes, the hotel is named after the Italian hotbed and has its own docent and curator for an extensive private glass-art collection). It's why she's so A glassblowing teacher shapes a horse out of molten glass; (right) intricate glass creations of Chihuly's Venetian Wall, en route to the Museum of Glass. Beyond Glass Although Neko Case sings of a downtrodden Tacoma ("Where the factories churn/ And the timber's all cut down"), this port city's turnaround is definitely bright and green. Indeed, Tacoma has always had the advantage of its Pacific Northwest setting: the teeming waters of the Puget Sound (home to the giant Pacific octopus, the world's largest), the still-standing groves of towering trees in Point Defiance Park (a 281-hectare retreat since 1888) and the seaside sand dunes of Chambers Bay (a challenging links-style public golf course and site of the 2015 U.S. Open). Downtown, there's revived waterfront to stroll along the Thea Foss Waterway, with the future goal being to connect the Tacoma Dome all the way to Point Defiance Park via an 11-km-long multi-use waterfront pathway. Here, under the shapely shadow of the Museum of Glass Hot Shop, it's easy to take to the water via kayak or stand-up paddleboard from Foss Harbor Marina, dipping paddles into sparkling Commencement Bay. In Point Defiance Park there are easy hikes through old-growth forest with views of Vashon Island and Gig Harbor across the water, as well as the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (the fifth-longest suspension span in the U.S. built after the infamous caught-on- film collapse of Galloping Gertie). Farther afield, Tacoma's surrounding Pierce County is home to some 146 waterfalls, 25 glaciers (including Carbon Glacier, the longest and thickest in the contiguous U.S.) and the Carbon River rainforest of Mount Rainier. At 4,323 metres, majestic Rainier is the Cascades' and Washington's tallest peak, a beacon easily visible from downtown Tacoma. –b.S. The seaside beauty of the Chambers Bay golf course, site of the 2015 U.S. Open. p36-41_Tacoma.indd 39 14-04-11 2:43 PM