Keith Lazelle, "Owl Creek in Winter." Photo courtesy Washington State History Museum.

The Hoh flows through the History Museum
“Fast Moving Water: The Hoh River Story” displays 14 color photographs by Keith Lazelle of Washington’s gorgeous Hoh River, with the story of its preservation and local culture. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. third Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Sunday through Oct. 18. $8/$7/$6/five and under free, 2-8 p.m. third Thursdays free. 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma. 253-272-3500, www.washingtonhistory.org

Pierce College shows C.J. Swanson
Former Art on Center gallerist Catherine Swanson’s vibrant abstract acrylics are on show at Pierce College gallery. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-noon Friday through Aug. 28. Free. Fort Steilacoom campus, 9401 Farwest Dr. S.W., Lakewood. 253-964-6535,www.pierce.ctc.edu/art

Shakespeare in the Apple Orchard
Tacoma’s ineffable Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, known for contemporary takes on the Bard in unusual venues, turns 10 this year. They kick off their season with “Twelfth Night” at the Curran Apple Orchard. 6:30 p.m. July 9. Free. Curran Apple Orchard, 3920 Grandview Dr., University Place. 253-318-5182, www.sitpl.org

MetalUrge at Two Vaults
For its MetalUrge show, Two Vaults features the delicate jewelry of Birna Sigurbjornsdottir, Bill Dawson’s beaten copper vessels, and textured sculpture from Marge McDonald, among others. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, noon-8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through September. Free. Artist soiree 6-9 p.m. July 18. 602 S. Fawcett St., Tacoma. 253-759-6233, www.twovaults.com

Margaret Bullock, Tacoma Art Museum's new curator for Kittredge Gallery at UPS. Photo courtesy UPS.

As of yesterday, Tacoma Art Museum is now managing and curating Kittredge Gallery at the University of Puget Sound. The gallery had previously been run by a part-time curator--most recently Carol Adelman--and featured mostly contemporary Northwest artists, with occasional student and faculty shows. Margaret Bullock, TAM's curator of collections and special exhibitions, will now oversee both the gallery and the university's small collection, including the nationally-significant Abby Williams Hill collection.

“This offers an opportunity to bring the knowledge and expertise of key individuals at Tacoma Art Museum to the benefit of our students and art department,” said Kris Bartanen, academic vice president and dean of UPS.

Stephanie Stebich, director of Tacoma Art Museum, said the partnership is an important and unusual collaboration that will give her institution opportunities to pursue different kinds of exhibitions.

=> Read more!

Barbara De Pirro, "fungi plastica" and "vine plastica." Photo courtesy Barbara De Pirro.

If you're up Seattle way, drop in at Carkeek Park, where the Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) has teamed up with Parks and Rec and various neighborhood councils to produce a really great summer art event: environmental art in the park. "Heaven and Earth" features sculpture by 11 regional artists that links both the idea of heaven (or haven, a safe, relaxing place) and earth (natural materials.) Sculptures had to leave no trace in the park, either by decomposing or by leaving no mark when they're removed on August 10 at the exhibition's close.

Barbara De Pirro is one semi-local artist on show. The Shelton artist is known in Tacoma, showing her tightly-woven, elegantly-curved bio-forms made of plastic bags at the Envirohouse and recently served as artist in residence at the Museum of Glass (her installation "Plastic and Light" is still on view there through the end of the year.) For the Carkeek Park show, De Pirro constructed four biomorphic structures with recycled plastic bags and bottles: In her words, "An environmental statement through the juxtaposition of material, form and location." They're located on three sites: the apple orchard, near the bridge over Pipers Creek and tucked near the stairs at the model airplane field.

How about something like that in Wright Park, with Tacoma artists? Sounds fun.

"Heaven and Earth" is on view at Carkeek Park, 950 NW Carkeek Park Road, Seattle, through August 10. Entry is free. www.heavenandearthexhibition.org

The call to redesign Tacoma Art Museum's plaza and perimeter garnered 95 submissions. And now TAM has winnowed those down to six design firms, it announced today.

Submissions for the $3 million project were received by individuals and firms from Tacoma to New York.

The shortlist of finalists are BCRA (Tacoma), the design team led by E. Cobb Architects (Seattle), Johnson Architecture and Planning LLC (Seattle), Mithūn (Seattle), NBBJ (Seattle), and Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen & Charles Anderson Landscape Architecture (Seattle).

The museum wanted the proposals to address landscape, art and signage elements to increase visibility and approachability.

The museum’s Plaza Redesign Task Force reviewed the submissions and determined the finalists. Task Force chair Steve Barger said, “The submissions showed impressive creativity and a wide variety of approaches. The selection process was arduous. We now look forward to meeting the finalists for interviews on July 9.”

TAM will announce a finalist sometime this fall.

Justin Hahn, "Dresden A and B." Photo courtesy David Domkoski.

Don't look now, but there are aliens in the library.

Facetious, maybe, but on first sight, that's what Justin Hahn's sculptures in the main branch's Handforth Gallery look like. Four of them have skeletons of steel rod, draped with melted green or white plastic with the texture of goop. Another is a chunky bronze with clunky white polycarbonate hands like minstrel gloves. A bunch of others are tiny stick-figure people about a foot high with steel rod bodies.

Fun for the kids, maybe. But Hahn's work is more than just a sci-fi film set. His skill at working metal and polymers shows in the delicate machinery of the Dresden figures--two adult-and-child couples built of bent rods attached with hinges, clips, wires and whatnot to achieve a slightly apologetically hunched look. Taller than humans, with protruding round alien bug-eyes, the figures wear melted plastic for flesh, their anatomy just deformed enough to make you look twice. Their brains look carefully sculpted out of red shiny play-dough. Benevolent, they're frozen in the act of wandering through life, slightly bemused and almost pitiable in their warped plasticity.

Justin Hahn, "BPA Hyatt." Photo courtesy David Domkoski.

Across the room, "BPA Hyatt" is a bronze man with plastic-coated hands. Hahn, who works daytimes in the Bronze Works, has manipulated the metal into Cubist chunks, the man faceless and chestless, with cancerous protuberances. The white coating on his hands, held out as if desperately begging, is the contaminant Bisphenol-A polycarbonate.

What's the point here? Hahn, a plastics engineer and self-confessed plastic geek, is showing us ourselves. Deformed and diseased, our bodies have taken on our plastic consumption.

In the corner of the gallery is a different set of bodies. In collaboration with Steve Kanick, Hahn has created tiny stick figures of steel, who earnestly rearrange Kanick's polymer chairs, pressed and molded like bronze relief.

Also on show is metal sculpture by Marsha Glaziere and Steve Barnard. The show is part of MetalUrge, and is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays through August 29. The Handforth Gallery is at the Tacoma Public Library's main branch, 1102 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma. 253-591-5666, www.tacomapubliclibrary.org</div>