Around Town: Tacoma Spaceworks

Filling empty spaces with art

Tacoma’s arts administrator, Amy McBride, was getting frustrated with the depressingly empty storefronts around the city. A year ago, she began lobbying for a creative solution to the unattractive window spaces. Spaceworks was soon born, filling 14 storefronts with public art installations that remain in place for three to six months at a time. To create and manage Spaceworks, McBride works closely with Shunpike, a Seattle-based program dedi- cated to providing resources to various artistic endeavors.

1 James Sinding has created a giant-size version of tacoma-specific refrigerator poetry and used the words to fill tollefson plaza in downtown. the instal- lation of words draws more foot traffic to the plaza and encourages interaction among visitors.

2 rebecca Maxim’s piece “Marriage of Inconvenience” is a wedding gown constructed from thousands of empty pill packets from hIV/AIDS medications.

3 Using colorful straws and found objects, Anette Lusher creates most of her works from used and recycled objects and materials. Lusher strives to create eco-friendly art.

4 Amy Mcbride stands in front of the downtown Woolworth building, one of the first Spaceworks sites. Mcbride is con- stantly striving to transform tacoma into a “fertile ground for creativity to thrive.”

5 Lisa Kinoshita’s fascination with taxi- dermy has brought stuffed caribou, mule deer and a hospital bed under one roof. She describes “CoDA” as “two different experiences in mortality,” illustrating her point that “nobody gets out of here alive.”

Photography by Nate Watters