Glass artist heating glass to over 2000 degrees F at Tacoma Glass Museum

This week’s Photohunt theme is hot. I thought first about doing the obvious – weather. We are having a couple of late summer hot days. Eighty degrees! But I thought I would share another Pacific Northwest place that is ‘hot’ – The Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Their tag line is “Hot glass. Cool art.”

I love this museum. It is so creative and imaginative. I usually start by walking across the Chihuly Bridge of Glass. My favorite area is the Seaform Pavilion although the Crystal Towers are also stunning.

The bridge leads to the top of the museum and the volcano shaped stainless steel cone that is the top of the hot shop . Stairs curve around the cone and down to the outdoor glass exhibits. Inside the Hot Shop Amphitheater, glass artists work with the furnaces that burn to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. The Glory Holes heat the glass to over 2,000 degree F which makes the glass malleable and allows the artist to blow or shape the pieces. The Amphitheater is open during museum hours to allow visitors to watch the artists.

I don’t know what attracts me the most – the danger of working with the hot glass or the beauty of the creations.

Shaping the glass

Elevator platform at top of the stairs

Hot Shop Cone

I love the metal work

Martin Blank’s Fluent Steps

Crystal Towers – Chihuly Bridge of Glass

Seaforms – Chihuly Bridge of Glass