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We celebrated the 100th anniversary of the restored Point Defiance Pagoda yesterday, marked by its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places this week.
I spent a day sketching at the Pagoda this month, raising a silent toast to the next hundred years. You can see my sketches over at the Drawn the Road Again blog.
Much as I’d love them to be done by now, there’s still about a zillion flats to be cut for my Local Conditions book. I can’t do them all in one go—all that hand-Xacto-knifing is really hard on your hands. So I fit the cutting in wherever I can, whenever I need a break from some other project or process. Still, even though the progress is slow, it feels good to see a whole stack of finished pieces, ready to contribute to the edition.
I was out running errands the other day, and had just gotten out of my car when she appeared—out of nowhere, not ten feet from where I stood.
I froze, not wanting to spook her. But she was utterly unconcerned about me. She stopped and turned, apparently waiting for something.
Or someone.
Then, without once looking back, she led her fawn right past me—I could have reached out and touched them—and on down the street, on some errands of her own.
I cross-posted this (in a slightly different form) over at Drawn the Road Again, but I’m too excited not to share it here, too. After I illustrated two iconic Tacoma theaters, the kind folks at the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts offered me a media sponsorship of one of their upcoming shows. I was happy to say yes (hey, free tickets for me and my friends!), but I didn’t give it much thought beyond that—the illustrations were plenty of fun on their own. But then they said, “We think we have the perfect show lined up for you.”
Photos by Mariesa Bus (left) and Laurie Cinotto (right)
And that’s how I got to chat with Ira Glass yesterday. (Yes, of course he’s charming and super nice!)
While I waited my turn at the meet-and-greet, I did what I always do: reach for pen and paper. The best part was the sketch turning into a collaboration—when I asked Ira for his autograph, he added the word bubble.
Yep, that was a good day.
Don’t be distracted by Ric’s smile—see the puddles everywhere? See the winter gear people are wearing? Sunday was the craziest Wayzgoose yet, hands down. That’s because we had both the biggest crowd ever and the worst weather imaginable. So that smile is one of triumph: getting a decent steamroller print that day required beating some serious odds.
It rained sideways while Jessica inked.
It hailed while we lined up our block.
Photo by Dr. Jamie Brooks
It froze while we peeled our prints up.
Photo by Dr. Jamie Brooks
It blew a gale while I painted.
Still, despite the mishaps, I think it turned out alright. Jessica and I are calling our print “Park Place”—created in gratitude over the passage of a bond that would fund our city park system. The map in the center shows most of Tacoma’s parks, with twelve of our favorites called out like properties on a Monopoly board.
We even took a snippet of the illustration and sent it over to the talented screenprinting booth folks, who turned it into a t-shirt design during the event (you can just see a peek of it in the upper left corner).
Since the rain and wind prevented us from hanging the finished prints outside during Wayzgoose, most of the people who came that day didn’t get to see anybody’s finished print. So today Ric, Jessica and I remedied that.
Thanks to Spaceworks Tacoma, all of this year’s steamroller prints are on exhibit in the Woolworth Windows downtown…
…where you can see them—in fair weather or foul—now through August 21.
Thanks to everyone who visited or volunteered at Wayzgoose this year, and to King’s Books and the Tacoma Arts Commission for making it all happen!
The carving is done, and we can’t wait to show you the finished product. See you at the Wayzgoose on Sunday!
Here we are: year ten. Since the time Jessica Spring founded the Tacoma Wayzgoose all those years ago, it’s become one heckuva beast—and a veritable Tacoma institution.
So here are a few sneak peeks of the giant linoleum block Jessica and I are carving—and we’ll reveal all on Sunday:
10th Annual Tacoma Wayzgoose
Sunday, April 27, 2014
11 am to 4 pm, Free!
King’s Books
218 St. Helens Avenue, Tacoma, WA
If you’re new here and don’t know what a Wayzgoose is, or you just want to relive the glory days of old, here are links to all the Wayzgeese (gooses?) I’ve been a part of:
• 2009 (Tacoma)
• 2010 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (San Francisco)
• 2012 (Tacoma)
• 2013 (Tacoma)
Itching for more? Well, then, see you on Sunday!
It’s gloomy again today, but last week was so gorgeous I just had to drop everything and sketch outside. This is from one of my favorite neighborhood spots in Tacoma—sometimes it’s still hard to believe I live here.
Well, I only just realized that my only photo of last night’s opening (stupid phone!) was so out of focus, but oh well. It still gives you an idea of how nicely the Wayzgoose steamroller prints look on a gallery wall!
Thanks to everybody who made the trek down to Parkland last night for the shindig—and to Jessica Spring for organizing, curating and installing these beasts!
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the Tacoma Wayzgoose! The festival isn’t until the end of April, but we’re celebrating early with an exhibit of all the giant steamroller prints created over the years at the Pacific Lutheran University Gallery. It’s going to be a doozy!
And I’m honored to see that the artwork I created with Jessica Spring is gracing all the promo materials for the exhibit! (Thanks, PLU.) If you’re in the Seattle-Tacoma area this Wednesday, stop by for the opening, won’t you?
In the meantime, we’re about to get crackin’ on this year’s steamroller print…look for a teaser soon.