I’m already back in the central Seattle Metropolitan Area, and I switched up the ordering of publishing blog posts because I wanted to add a bit more va­ri­e­ty, but I still have one more post from my four-day stay in Tacoma, Washington—for my third and final tourist activity, I went to the Tacoma Art Mu­se­um, in quick and convenient walking distance across the street from my hotel.

The Tacoma Art Museum was probably one of the most traditional and straightforward museums that I’ve been to in a while.

The first gallery was “Animals: Wild and Captured in Bronze.”

Next was “On Native Land: Landscapes from the Haub Family Collection.”

Around the corner was “Native Portraiture: Power and Perception.”

The final area of the exhibits on Natives was called “Places to Call Home: Settlements in the West” and “Winter in the West.”

I’ve already seen a lot of Chihuly’s art because of his residency in the Seattle Metropolitan Area, including Chihuly Garden and Glass, the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, and the Museum of Glass. The Tacoma Art Museum also had its own small section of Chihuly’s art, as well as a little reading corner for books con­taining photographs and descriptions of Chihuly’s art.

The next gallery was “Painting Deconstructed: Selections from the Northwest Collection.”

Finally was my favorite gallery of the museum, “Metaphor Into Form: Art in the Era of the Pilchuck Glass School.”

“Nerve” was my favorite art piece. The word “nerve” was etched in cursive into the glass, and to the naked eye straight-on, it was nearly invisible. How­ever, with the light shining onto the glass, it created a very visible shadow onto the wall. I liked the messaging that, even though something might not be obvious, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t there.

I also enjoyed this piece of black jewelry mannequins in front of a bright white backdrop. Usually, jewelry mannequins simply serve the purpose of em­pha­sizing the actual jewelry pieces, so it was interesting seeing the otherwise-usually-neglected mannequins being used as the primary art com­po­si­tion.

The rest of this gallery had more modern art pieces, with many of them being unique creations of glass art.

Although the museum wasn’t bad, I don’t think the price-to-value ratio was quite right (even after having a discounted admission price due to a handful of galleries that were closed for renovations). If you don’t have access to too many other art museums, the Tacoma Art Museum could be fine, but oth­er­wise, it is extremely simple and frankly a little bit boring.

I unfortunately did not realize this when I visited, so I ended up paying full price, but as of right now, they offer free admission every Thursday evening. If you manage to visit during that weekly community event, then it could be a decent way to spend an hour or two.