Metal-Urge Free Community Festival this Sunday!

Tacoma Community College wows crowds with a molten iron pour.

Join us for a free, fun-filled afternoon of metal arts for the whole family.

Metal-Urge Free Community Festival
Sunday, October 19
12 – 3 pm
Tollefson Plaza, S. 17^th & Pacific Avenue, Tacoma
Free and open to the public

We’ll keep you entertained with:

• Live sword fighting reenactments and display of armor and artifacts by Knights of Veritas
• Scratch block activity and molten iron pour with Tacoma Community College’s sculpture department
• Blacksmithing demonstrations with Lisa Geertson and Travis Conn
• Textured metal charm activity with Tacoma Metal Arts Center
• Hands-on metal crafts with Tacoma Art Museum
• Steel music under the direction of Miho Takekawa
• Three Graces sculptures by Mary Coss, in the plaza pools
• Food trucks – Lumpia World and The Original House of Donuts!

 

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Metal-Urge is a city-wide celebration of metal arts that explores the many ways artists push this versatile and diverse medium. From October 1 – November 30, 31 venues will feature metal-themed exhibits, workshops, lectures, festivals, and more.

A list of all events and exhibits is available at TacomaMetalUrge.com, and brochures are available in coffee shops and cultural venues around town.

Besides the Metal-Urge Free Community Festival, two additional anchor programs are:

• “Protective Ornament: Contemporary Amulets to Armor”
  October 18, 2014 – February 1, 2015
  Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave.
  This exhibit showcases nearly 100 works—including helmets, brass knuckles, breastplates, aggressive or defensive jewelry, chain mail, amulets, talismans, and protective gear—designed to address issues of protection and empowerment in the face of everyday perils and social challenges. Ranging from protective hardware (physical fortification) and protective “software” (faith-based adornment), the array of contemporary works underlines the crucial safeguarding function of jewelry and other wearable ornaments. Organized by the National Ornamental Metal Museum Foundation, Inc. The exhibition was curated by Suzanne Ramljak, Editor of Metalsmith magazine.

• Seattle Metals Guild 19^th Annual Northwest Jewelry & Metals Symposium
  October 18, 9 am – 5:30 pm
  Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Ave.
  This metal arts symposium features lectures by Metalsmith magazine editor Suzanne Ramljak, historian Stephen Fliegel, Vivian Beer, artist Jennifer Trask, jeweler Todd Pownell, and metalsmith Myra Mimlitsch-Gray. For more information or to register visit seattlemetalsguild.org/programs/symposium.

Metal-Urge is organized by the Tacoma Arts Commission and sponsored by Click! Cable TV and The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation.

 

Words drop in Tollefson Plaza August 6!

Artist James Grayson Sinding weaves magic with "Words."

Words, a new temporary installation by Tacoma artist James Grayson Sinding will drop in Tollefson Plaza August 6 at 2pm. Come be part of the installation as Sinding dramatically dumps hundreds of hand-painted wooden words, refrigerator-magnet-style, onto the plaza out of the back of a shiny dump truck. The public is invited to create messages, climb, stack, and otherwise interact with the new installation. Words will be in Tollefson Plaza through the end of August 2011. Tollefson Plaza is located in downtown Tacoma at Pacific Avenue and S. 17^th Street.

Like last year's "Letters" (above), "Words" will be an interactive installation

In 2010, Sinding presented his colorful, award-winning installation, Letters, in Tollefson plaza. Letters was recently recognized by the prestigious Americans for the Arts 2011 Public Art Network Year in Review as an example of an outstanding public art project. This year a record 430 projects were submitted from across the country and only 47 were selected. A full list of projects and more information about Year in Review can be found at www.PublicArtNetwork.org.

Words is supported by Spaceworks Tacoma and the Tacoma Arts Commission’s Tacoma Artists Initiative Program (TAIP). The installation is presented in conjunction with the Tacoma Art Museum’s “Free Summer Community Festival: Best of the Northwest.” The event runs Saturday, August 6, 10 am-4 pm. Admission to the museum is free during the festival.

For more information, visit www.SpaceworksTacoma.com, www.TacomaArtMuseum.org or www.JamesGraysonSinding.blogspot.com or e-mail rsolverson@cityoftacoma.org.