Catching Up

We spent this day (Friday evening and Saturday) in synagogue in observance of Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement, the holiest day of observance in Judaism. Our day was spent in Beth Israel Temple in Portland, one of the oldest temples in the west. It is a lovely building of the Greco/Roman style. Following tradition, as we end these days of awe, we wish all friends and family a happy and healthy new year.

Now to backtrack. We spent a fabulous day at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. This was our second time there. We started in the Hot Shop where a quartet of glass blowers were making wine glasses.

A fifth blower explained the process to us.

Unfortunately and as a normal part of the risk of working with glass, the goblet we watched being made fell right before the last process, becoming shards instead of a wine glass. As before when watching the dance of creating with glass, Anna Lee wondered why there is no orchestration accompanying the performance, maybe with an alternate score for when things go wrong.

In the exhibit hall, we followed a guided tour through a collection of mixed works. We were delighted to see installations by Beth Lipman, whose work we had previously seen in DC. Together with a Swedish artist, she built with clear glass a small glen filled with trees, bushes, animals, a stream and mountains in the background, all showing the fragility of our environment. In another gallery were works designed by children for a competition. The winning selections were then built in glass by professional artists. These were delightful. Unfortunately, no photos.

Dale Chihuly, a native son, put Tacoma on the glass blowing map and left his own mark with the Seafoam Pavilion ablaze with color.

He also has work in the former train station now the federal court house.