As the video opens, Kevin is standing in the quiet room in the library of the University of Washington Tacoma, where Kevin is looking at what he says could be an octopus or maybe a squid. It actually is a huge Dale Chihuly glass sculpture (Chinook Red Chandelier, 1999), suspended from the ceiling. Apparently Chihuly traded it with the university for storage space when he kept work in some old warehouses that the university converted into its campus.
Next, Kevin stops by a Picasso – yes, a real Picasso – (Le Visage de la Paix [The Face of Peace, 1953) that was donated to the university by some Tacoma residents who went to Japan on a peace mission, where they were given this historic drawing. The university has it on display where anyone can see it.
Kevin’s next stop is just his kind of place, Tinkertopia, a shop on the commercial side of the university’s buildings, where anyone can come in, pick through the bins and piles of cool stuff, and build, well, more cool stuff. This is Kevin’s kind of place!
Tacoma’s amazing Museum of Glass is just across the way. Kevin shows off some of Dale Chihuly’s work that is displayed on the Bridge of Glass, which leads to the museum. Rather than have his work displayed in the glass museum, Chihuly, who has helped make Tacoma a serious destination for lovers of glass art, has it shown on this bridge. It gives you a look at his work both in overhead displays and a wall of fantastical artwork.
Next stop: the Museum of Glass itself. Kevin wanders through the museum, showing some of the artwork he saw there, including an area of lighted letters where you can make your own words. The best part, though, is the cone-shaped Hot Shop, where glass artists are creating a variety of artworks. Visitors can sit and watch as artists blow, pour and shape glass. (Check out the live feed of hot shop activities.