Arts

The Arts

Elise Richman, associate professor of art, left, and Britt Freda, of the Northwest Artists Against Extinction, at the group's exhibition Honor: People and Salmon at the Kittredge Gallery on the University of Puget Sound campus. The two stand in front of Richman's piece, Confluence, which was included in the exhibition. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

PNW artists’ work evokes salmon to educate, inspire change

Northwest artists have drawn inspiration from salmon as long as people have walked along the running streams. But, the movement to close four dams on the lower Snake River has some artists, activists and naturalists hopeful that their pieces will not only tug at heartstrings, but also move forward the conversation of salmon conservation and restoration.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee recently signed budget bills to study removal of the four dams. Activists have been calling for the dam removals in order to preserve and restore salmon populations.
Continue Reading PNW artists’ work evokes salmon to educate, inspire change

Read More »
Grassroots craftivist Laura Fielding, who started Red Berets for Medicare for All, knits a beret at Tacoma's Wright Park. Photo by Lauren Gallup.

Tacoma ‘craftivist’ featured in documentary on ‘health care for all’ movement

A new documentary, Healing US, premieres in Tacoma at the Grand Cinema on May 19. The documentary tells the story of the national movement for Medicare for All, where folks are advocating for an universal healthcare system. One of the key players in that story is Laura Fielding, founder of the Red Berets for Medicare for All coalition in Tacoma.
Continue Reading Tacoma ‘craftivist’ featured in documentary on ‘health care for all’ movement

Read More »
Runners wearing water bottle backpacks, hats, headbands, headphones, and long sleeves walk toward finish line and smile toward the camera.

Badger Mountain Challenge: A unique running community, a changing landscape

Badger Mountain Challenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQTyTxkMOS0&list=PL6pHcbVJ2q0GlWFInFMhze7AALPhxA-zs&index=42The annual Badger Mountain Challenge brings together an extraordinary community of people who celebrate running and support each other on this unique, treasured and threatened ultramarathon course… Continue Reading Badger Mountain Challenge: A unique running community, a changing landscape

Read More »
A photo of the marquee outside the Tacoma Opera's premiere of the Tacoma Method opera shows a green rimmed marquee with the word "Rialto" in large block letters. There are office buildings in the background and the signs hangs above a street. In the far background is a blue sky with bright, white clouds.

Tacoma Method Opera tells history from a new perspective

That history tends to repeat itself, especially when people don’t learn lessons from the past, is the guiding sentiment for Teresa Pan-Hosley in her work as the president of the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation. This organization is solely dedicated to reconciling the dark history of the Chinese expulsion from Tacoma in 1885. Continue Reading Tacoma Method Opera tells history from a new perspective

Read More »
The exterior of Steve's Cafe, later commonly known as Steve's Gay '90s, as it appeared in April of 1951. The real-life dining and entertainment hot spot is a setting in the historical fiction novel, The Farewell Tour. Photo courtesy of Northwest Room at The Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio A57331-36.

‘The Farewell Tour’ brings readers back in time to Tacoma’s honky-tonk history

While the West Coast is known for grunge and surf rock, Stephanie Clifford’s latest novel, a piece of historical fiction, reminds readers of the roots country music has here, especially Tacoma.
Tacoma, a burgeoning port city on Commencement Bay in the 1940s and 50s, plays a central role in The Farewell Tour. The book is an American West tale of coming home, with a few forks in the road, that takes readers back in time over the protagonist’s life as she makes her way as a musician on the West Coast. Continue Reading ‘The Farewell Tour’ brings readers back in time to Tacoma’s honky-tonk history

Read More »

Women’s History Music Moment: Bach’s Daughters

You’ve heard so much about the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, but there were daughters, too.

Bach was 23, and his wife Maria Barbara was 24, when the first of their children was born. They named her Catherina Dorothea. CD grew into a singer, and helped out in her father’s music work. Fifteen years passed, her mother died, her father remarried, and finally, CD Bach acquired a sister: Cristina Sophia Henrietta, daughter of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. CSH died at the age of three, just as another sister, Elizabeth Juliana Frederica, was born. EJF Bach would grow up to marry one of her father’s students. Continue Reading Women’s History Music Moment: Bach’s Daughters

Read More »