Yesterday my free art event involved more public art, and something Tacoma’s famous for: blown glass and Dale Chihuly. We all might be used to glass art by now, but it’s worth remembering that we’re incredibly lucky to have several glassblowing studios in town, not to mention one of only a couple of glass museums in the country. And a lot of it is free. I’m talking about the Chihuly art in the museum district: in Union Station, the Bridge of Glass, the University of Washington Tacoma library, and the Swiss Pub, all of which …

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For today I headed along Martin Luther King Jr. Way. It’s a pretty bleak street right now – lots of closed shopfronts – so thank goodness for the art. Tacoma Art Place (just along South 11^th Street from MLK Way) usually has a featured artist in the lobby, although nothing’s there now until Feb. 10. Then there are the mural shopfronts, an artist-driven project between South 11^th and 13^th Streets that brightens the boarded-up windows.

And then there’s Fulcrum Gallery, which for several years now has been one of a handful of fine art galleries in town showing …

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More outings for my Free Arts Month, an ongoing blog story where I check out a free arts experience every day in January.

Thursday night was ArtWalk, and unless you’ve lived under a stone you’ll know what that means in Tacoma: free museums, galleries open late and often free performances too. There’s a wealth of choice for free arts, and I had to pass up a flute/guitar release of newly composed classical music by Meredith Connie plus the usual live Hot Shop glass blowing at the Museum of Glass, free entry to the Washington History Museum and a bunch of …

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Kittredge Gallery at the University of Puget Sound is a great place to see free art when the commercial galleries are closed. It’s co-curated by Tacoma Art Museum and the university, and as such sports a mixture of student, staff and prominent Northwest artist shows. Just up is “Marked/Patterned Remarks,” a big show with bold paintwork and a small show with intricate detail.

From the moment you walk in the big gallery Michelle Grabner’s paint circles demand your attention. Four in a row, with a fifth to the side, they’re large, dark moons dotted with spirals of myriad gray …

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Tuesdays are often as tricky as Mondays for free arts events: Theaters are dark and galleries are (mostly) closed. But public art is always there whenever you care to look, and Tacoma has a wealth of it. One great way to see it, at least for the highly-concentrated downtown art, is to give yourself a walking tour. All the art is listed by map and photo on the city’s arts website: www.tacomaculture.org/arts/publicart.asp, scroll to launch the public art tour. You can also ask at Tacoma Art Museum for their GPS treasure hunt brochure.

Why walk to see art?

…

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The Washington State History Museum is in danger, and thank goodness Tacomans are rallying around to save it from state budget cuts. If ever an institution worked hard to make us remember that history is a living part of the present, it’s this one: The “In the Spirit” Native arts festival and Washington state history dioramas, the upcoming mummy exhibit “Wrapped” with current imaging technology, and today’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day programs are all great examples.

Admission to the museum was free today, which is why I went as part of my Free Arts Month story, and I …

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Churches are often great places to find free music. In Tacoma, Christ Church Episcopal has a fantastic classical choir and Brombaugh organ; Bethany Lutheran has a full five-octave handbell choir; and Immanuel Presbyterian in the North Slope district has a Blues Vespers service, famous for enticing some of the best blues/jazz bands in the area. Tonight the band was Junkyard Jane, with a Martin Luther King Day reflection in the middle.

If you’re thinking of going, get there early. The Vespers is popular, and the streets were parked up several blocks in each direction. While the church was full, there …

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If you want free, you gotta plan. Today my idea was to catch the monthly Click Family Flick at the Grand Cinema – but about 100 people had the same idea as I did, and sooner. The Flick is a free kid-friendly film every third Saturday, usually something adults like as well, but it’s pretty popular, and it’s worth planning out the morning. Today’s screening was the 1988 classic “Big,” about a boy who wishes he was bigger – and has it granted, by about six years in one night.

Doors open at 10 a.m. for the 10:30 a.m. screening, …

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