Tacoma Art Museum
Tacoma Art Museum places the art of the Northwest beside studio glass and two centuries of Western American art, making it unusually good for testing how artists have pictured this region—and who gets included in that picture.
Artwork inspired by Barbara Earl Thomas
Northwest art is the museum’s center of gravity, but the most revealing visit crosses collection boundaries. Historical and contemporary regional work, nearly 1,000 pieces of studio glass, and the Haub Family Collection each construct a different idea of place.
Choose one Northwest work, one glass object, and one image from the Haub galleries. Compare who made each work, what land or community it describes, and what the label asks you to notice; the tension among those three objects is more useful than trying to cover every room.
- Setting
- Tacoma, Washington
- Admission
- $18 adult; Thursday 5–8 p.m. free
- Allow
- 1½–2½ hours
Quick guide
- Start with place
- Pair historical and contemporary Northwest art
- Then widen the frame
- Compare studio glass with the Haub galleries’ competing visions of the West
Compare three versions of the Northwest
- Begin with the region
- Start in the Northwest galleries and pair an older landscape or portrait with a contemporary work.
- Follow the glass
- Use the studio-glass collection to trace how Pilchuck artists turned an industrial material into a Northwest art movement.
- Question the West
- In the Haub galleries, compare a historical image of the West with a contemporary work.
- Check what is actually open
- Permanent holdings rotate, and temporary exhibitions can change the balance of a visit.
Good to know
Thursday evening admission and adult group tours follow separate schedules and booking rules. Confirm the active discount or tour price before planning a group; Museum of Glass and other Museum District attractions use separate tickets and hours.
Notice these
- Northwest art
- Studio glass and the Haub galleries
- 1½–2½ hours