Tacoma Art Museum

Vacilating between Tacoma's art museum and glass museum, i chose the earlier because i didn't really feel like looking at piles of chihuly glass. Funny thing, there's an instalment of his works at the center of the museum, so here it is.

The St. John's Bible exhibit is pretty amazing. Not particularly animal-friendly (written on calf-skin vellum using hand-plucked feather pens), but otherwise impressive and beautiful. The exhibit also included some very old works, including 15th century books that i enjoyed the opportunity to view.

In Times of War

We visited the museum at Ft. Lewis Army Base this weekend. Among the artifacts and bits of history related to American conflicts and wars were the sword in hand and bust of Saddam Hussein from the statue that formerly stood in Firdos Square in Baghdad, Iraq.

Within the open air exhibits was this tank. There was no plaque to explain its history, but it resonated for a different reason: those initiating war tend to quickly loose sight of the daily effects of war on the people involved. Though this image does nothing to capture the struggles and suffering of the soldiers or civilians affected each moment of every day that confilct continues, it does take a closer look at a tiny detail of a universal image of war.

Fourth o' July

I chose this photo for today's image because i think it captures what the a little bit of what one might call the "American spirit"...
Beautiful geography and seemingly boundless nature, including Mt. Baker in the background and the wetlands and woods in midground... An appreciation of nature and independence (and humankind's best friend!), inferred from the trail marker... and the American Dream: a sturdy homestead, built over a century ago by a family starting with nearly nothing, with the work of their hands and mastery of the land (use of native materials, cultivation of untouched land into agriculture/horticulture). And one can't miss the colours featured: good ol' red, white and blue!
Hovander Homestead on Tennant Lake, WA, June 2006