Complementary Museum
The Museum of Glass was my complementary museum, by way of being part of the 'necklace' of Tacoma's Museum Corridor. Again, it compares fairly solidly against TAM for immediate engagement, placement of exhibits, flow and holds a more hip, up to date glamour than TAM in its own way. Their gift shop puts TAM's to shame! Except the counter person was focused on video poker, openly playing where anyone could see! Lucky I wasn't her boss....Still the gift shop contains a good variety of pertinent, connective souvenirs and gifts, inclusively NW and international glass oriented. I liked the galleries and the exhibits of contemporary, multimedia works. The cafe is okay. I forgot to see if they hold a liquor license too, but I bet they do for their galas, too. The public art studio is terrific, this time a new artist in residence was right there helping a roomfull of people, all ages, work on their projects. It is very popular with visitors. Once you enter Jane's Hotshop, the nexxus of the museum, you enter a different world of fire, space, sound and image. They could do a much better job holding the audience's attention. They need to put on a 'show' as the artisits work to pull the experience together and generate excitement, because ultimately sitting down and watching is too passive in such an action oriented room. They need a choreography of sound, lights and music to focus the movements and work of the floorteam. The emcees have all been LAME to me. After some viewing of the static glass cases and then sitting for a short time I was bored again, and that is just poor understanding of their patrons and the art form I believe. It is touted theme park style--bring on the SHOW! =) Still its my favorite place because its a weird and unusual experience, inside and out. The exterior cannot be beat, unless they ran an enormous, lighted awning the length of the outside stairs and over the outside tables. But, alas, that would change the aesthetics too much. As part of the trio of museums, MoG is doing okay, but there is room for improvement.