Tyler Budge and family assemble "House and Home" in the pools at Tollefson Plaza.

He's artist and UWT professor Tyler Budge, and (with the help of his family) was down at Tollefson Plaza in downtown Tacoma this afternoon constructing an installation as part of the upcoming festival Showcase Tacoma. (You can read more about this online and in GO on Friday.)

Budge's "House and Home" involves a steel frame about the size of a living room, with two doorways, wrapped in flimsy white fabric and supported by orange sandbags.

Here's a shot of the sandbags:

"House and Home," by Tyler Budge, during installation.

Says Budge:

"I was asked to participate in Showcase Tacoma while we where being inundated with news images of flooded homes along the Mississippi River. Having most recently moved from Illinois...I realized that the people of Illinois and I were participating in the same effort—preservation of house and home. I find myself packing sandbags with no real assurance that they will truly hold. As I struggle to keep the house above water, home becomes illusionary and illusive."

Being around 90 degrees on the plaza today, it also seemed a really good excuse for Tyler's six-year-old son Ezra (see top photo) to get as wet as possible.

On the sidewalk next to Pacific Ave, Oliver Doriss and his team from Fulcrum Gallery are creating a relief aerial map of Tacoma using recycled materials. Made of cans, pallets, cardboard and foam, among other things, it'll be pretty representational, says Doriss--as in, you can look down and say, "Hey! There's the Tacoma Dome!" Being on the sidewalk, you can also walk right over it. Which is fine, says Doriss, pointing out that how else could you walk right over from Gig Harbor to the Port of Tacoma?

Here's the map it's based on (GoogleEarth or somesuch):

Aerial view of Tacoma. Image courtesy Oliver Doriss.

And here's Doriss' general intention:

"The goal of Dream-Time Tacoma is to challenge current perceptions of what Tacoma is and what it could be, by using public art and space as a tool to strengthen civic life. Dream-Time Tacoma asks you to step into it and actualized the lives we live behind our eyes, the Tacoma we envision while sleeping."

That's assuming we dream about Tacoma, of course. I generally dream of other places. Call it escapism. Doriss et al will be down there Thursday around 5 p.m. to set it up, if you want to check it out.

Right next to "Dream-Time Tacoma" will be the prosaic reality version: a multimedia installation by Justin Gorman inside the bus shelter on Pacific. Gorman's not only been bus-commuting to Seattle for a year now, he's been documenting it as well, and "InTransIt" will include video, stills and audio of the gritty experience. According to co-organizer Amy McBride, Gorman will also be making live appearances as "the weirdo sitting next to you on the bus." There's a lot of it up on his blog right now.

Just next to Tollefson, across from S. 17th St, will be an interactive installation, "Fiber Plant," consisting of knitted swatches "growing" up a wire. Whether you can or can't knit, you can be part of this two-day project by Amy Thomas. Other fibrous components of "Close Knit Community" will be scattered around the city--Here's a park-bench sample, courtesy of Di Morgan-Graves.

Knit Swatch art, Amy Thomas. Image courtesy Amy Thomas.

See more on Amy's web album. You can pick up a knit-location map from Amy's knitting area at the festival.

Finally, Peter Lynn and Sean Alexander, who run the funky but struggling art space The Helm Gallery, are building a large cardboard whale, which will be "beached" somewhere grassy on the UWT campus.

Here's what Sean had to say about it:

"As for what it is about, who knows? We just hope it looks like some hippies dropped it off there. Also, we have no experience building a sculpture of this scale. We are nervous about it. We decided to participate in the show because they asked us to and it seemed like something that we couldn't say no to."

So if you're down around that area, keep an eye out for intriguing stuff going up. Post a photo if you can! And don't miss Showcase Tacoma, from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, from Tollefson through the UWT.