Museum of Glass

Long time, no post. That’ll happen.

We took a half-day trip down to Tacoma to check out the city.

Tacoma is the birthplace of the renown glassblower Dale Chihuly and is therefore home to the the Museum of Glass.  I've wanted to check it out for a while now. Glassblowing is kinda big out here. 

This is my favorite piece from inside the museum.

Attached to the museum is the Bridge of Glass, which I actually enjoyed more than the museum. The bridge is free to the public! It kind of looks like the world's fanciest collection of bongs. It isn't. But I'm fairly certain that the creator and owner of the worlds most impressive collection of bongs is likely Chihuly himself. Anyway, he makes some really beautiful work. 

   

 

 

Inside the museum is an area where you can watch and learn about glassblowing in person. It was a cool thing to see.

Seattle has also tried to get in on the glass hullabaloo with the very recent installation (in May 2012), Chihuly Garden and Glass, at the base of the Space Needle which we have yet to go to, (and may not now that we have gone to the other one).

Anyway, it was pretty cool. Tacoma seems cool too, although we didn’t actually see a whole lot more, since it gets dark at freakin’ 5 o’clock (stupid winter). We'll hafta make another trip down to see what else is going on in Tacoma.

The Fremont Solstice Parade

I have previously mentioned the peculiar neighborhood Fremont,  known as “The Center of the Universe,” host to the annual Solstice Parade, which is a bizarre and fabulously wild, trip down the rabbit hole. It is a magical mystery tour of very open and free-form artistic expression:  A stream-of-consciousness of the creativity and collective eccentricities of people from Fremont. If you attempted to derive a unified meaning from the parade, you would undoubtedly lose your marbles; So don’t try, just enjoy the strange weirdness.

The Painted [Naked] Cyclists of the Solstice Parade

The wildly popular parade draws a crowd, partly due to being preceded by a naked (but fully-body-painted) bike parade known as the Solstice Cyclists. The unofficial and unsanctioned naked cycling tradition started when a few streakers crashed the parade, and has grown into thousands. The Fremont Arts Council’s website says  “While the painted cyclists are a beloved part of the Solstice Parade, they are actually in no way affiliated with the Fremont Arts Council”.

While you may think that this is an anything-goes naked frenzy,  attended solely by perverts, there are a few basic rules [guidelines at best] as well as societal expectations of decency. The cyclists are painted to accentuate the human body as an art form as opposed to simple public lewdness . Almost everyone is painted, and many of them are without a doubt quite artistic. Those who are not painted are heckled by other participants and bystanders! I mean everyone has a moral code, and naked cyclists are no exception!  

Having accidently seen the International Naked Bike Ride of Portland, which is just naked bicyclists (sans body paint), [I am becoming a bit of a connoisseur of naked parades]:  I can honestly say that The Painted Cyclists of the Solstice Parade are far more interesting and make for a far more family-friendly naked parade!  And (I kid you not) that is how the event is viewed:  a lighthearted, fun, [family friendly(?)] display of uninhibited freedom and artistic expression that just happens to use the human form as a canvas.

This fully nude dude in a Guy Fawkes mask [the modern symbol of anti-authoritarianism and/or political activism] hopped off his bike for a photo-op with a surprised but easy-going Seattle police officer.

The Solstice Parade

The actual parade itself was really fantastic. I have not been to too very many parades, but this one was far and away the most entertaining.

And of course the beloved  Flying Spaghetti Monster is a staple of the Fremont Solstice Parade! Preaching Pastafarianism to the masses!

Colby wanted to join the parade but was far too tired.

The parade is cherished by both the young....


... and the young at heart.

I put my remaining pictures into collages, which are nicely representative of the broad spectrum of the parade: the beautiful, the bizarre, the cute-overload, and the impressive.

Look at this awesome little kid on stilts!

What sets this parade apart from many other parades:

There really is no theme!  While it is a parade for the summer solstice, there is really nothing tying one crazy thing to the next, and that allows it to be completely unpredictable, as if you stepped out of reality and into bizarre dream.

It is incredibly unstructured, open-minded, and laissez-faire.  If you wanted to randomly join the parade wearing any random thing... or completely naked (and painted), you could, and almost no one would think it odd.

No Logos, Ads, or Printed Words allowed!  This may seem trivial, but it is crucial to the aesthetic of the parade. Because of this rule, everything is completely open to interpretation. You do not even know what group any given float is representing. And best of all there is no floats with Ads saying “Ed’s Used Cars” etc, just cool visual stuff for everyone to enjoy.  They eloquently explain it as follows: “Participants must stretch to express their ideas visually, groups flow together in one juxtaposed whole, and we’re all happily free of logos for the day.”  Brilliant!

The Oregon Country Fair

This festival is called The Oregon Country Fair located outside of Eugene, Oregon. It is nothing like the name makes it sound. It is not a fair in the sense of a County or State fair, but more in the general sense of a fair. And the “Country” part of the name has nothing more to do with the fact that is located in the country and doesn’t reflect the type of music.

It is, as most festivals are, a place of the bizarre, and this festival takes bizarre to new level, all while maintaining a “family-friendly” atmosphere. It has been going on for 42 years, and just as all festivals with a long history, it has been modernized with all the amenities required to maintain ~45,000 people who will attend within the 3 days.

We only made a day trip, to check it out. It was a very interesting experience. Definitely something we would like to attend again. The festival ground was really cool, with the hundreds (probably 500) vendors selling every strange item you can imagine, within a labyrinth of elaborate permanent wooden market booths, giving the feeling as if you were meandering through a medieval bazaar. A fantastic display of interesting things, strange people, crazy art, and bizarre culture, all within an intricate weird wonderland (similar to that that Alice found herself in).


Oh yeah, the entertainment... There were 20 “stages” showcasing a vast array of “talents” from every possible area of the spectrum, such as: one-man bands, puppetshows, acting troupes, choirs, clowns, comedians, marching bands, dancers, actual bands, jugglers, belly dancers, gymnasts, etc, etc. And let’s not forget the random aspiring freelancing toss-a-dollar-in-my-cap musicians, the shamans, the hippies, the clowns on stilts (freaked me out a bit), the drum circles, the hulla-hoopers, the street performers, the quacks, the healers, the tarot readers, the endless variety of costumes, the trippers, the tweakers, the candlestick makers! All of this, calmly coexisting for 3 days, in place that is out of this world.

We saw many interesting things and several bands that were really good. It was fun.

Last Thursday's!

On the last Thursday of every month, in the up-and-coming Alberta district, there is a craft fair unlike any craft fair…

It is completely free for vendors and there are very few rules; you just show up, set up, and peddle your wares. It all just kind of started as a few people selling some items, and has grown into this fantastic event.

The unofficial nature and complete openness spawns a crowd which more resembles a circus than that of a craft fair. Since it is free to sell your goods, it draws the full gamut of artists and craftsmen from the creative “starving artist”, to the well-established vendors, to kids selling some “refrigerator-art”. The weird crowd pulls in unique entertainment: bands (of all varieties) on every corner, a trapeze artist, fire juggling acts, dancers, clowns… you name it.

So, if you need a $200 wooden bowl for the mantel, that perfect piece of erotic art for the baby’s room, or just want to dine on some unregulated street food and people-watch….this is the place to do it!

An acquaintance told us that they attempted to shut down a kids lemonade stand a few weeks ago, and the people all but rioted on principle, and at the following event, lemonade stands were uber popular! So….Keep Portland Weird [and don’t mess with the Laissez-(street)-faire mentality]!