Working Forward, Weaving Anew

I was scooting around Tacoma trying to find my way to the Museum of Glass when I spotted a 19,000 square foot mural on the 50 foot tall back side of 7Seas Brewing.

Installed in October of 2017, it's striking blue tones literally took my breath away and I had to get out of the car for a closer look.

From Crosscut:  Its visual story weaves past, present and future through the lens of a cedar tree. “Working Forward, Weaving Anew” begins with a Puyallup woman weaving a clam basket in a twill pattern; a cedar forest is in the background. As the mural moves right, the trees are violently felled by a logging saw, a fist emerges from the log as symbol of destruction and invasion. From the logs emerges a door, chiseled by a European carpenter, its Polish design inspired by the ornate old doors found in Tacoma’s downtown.

The brown looking clam above was actually made of metal and I'm wondering how it will age and change over the years.

From Tacoma Weekly about their new Prairie Line Trail which runs along the mural's route: The mile-long stretch snaking roughly parallel to Pacific Avenue will be filled with historical information and public art, all of which deals with the history of this length of track which, once upon a time, made Tacoma the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

It is said that the Prairie Line was signed into being by Abraham Lincoln and built by the toil of immigrant labor on land stolen from the Puyallup Tribe. The Puyallup Tribal legacy and the contributions of immigrants (especially Chinese immigrants) are major facets of the project. But there is also attention given to the role played by the railroads and by industries, such as timber and shipping, that contributed to the growth of this dynamic city in which we live.

I hope I have time to get back over to Tacoma and look for the other murals painted along the Prairie Trail Line, maybe tomorrow I can go to the Tacoma Art Museum and walk the trail from there.  The mural was painted by 10 Native Americans, and I myself just finished reading last night an historical fiction novel featuring the Cherokee and Choctaw just before the time of the Trail of Tears.

I'll post about the Museum of Glass tomorrow. Linking up to Monday Mural.