Kids of all ages sifted through thousands of wooden letters Saturday in downtown Tacoma, transforming Tollefson Plaza into a public display of creative writing.
Many of the nearly 200 people who participated spelled out their first names. But others left messages to ponder: “CLOWNS ARE SCARY,” “I JUST WANT TO BE WONDERFUL,” “BEST SUMMER EVER” and “I LOVE T TOWN.”
The display, called “Letters,” was one attraction of the Best of the Northwest Summer Festival at the Tacoma Art Museum. Saturday’s event also included chalk art, kite-making, music and free admission to the museum. The letters will be left out at the plaza for about a month so people can visit and spell out anything they choose.
Moments after a dump truck unloaded the letters at the plaza across Pacific Avenue from the museum, kids were climbing the pile searching for just the right ones.
Makenna Beeson, 7, spelled out her name and that of her 2-year-old sister Camrynn, of Yelm. Then, Makenna added “Love G” for her grandparents.
“They’re cool,” Makenna said of the letters. Of all the letters’ various colors, baby blue was her favorite.
Dick Beeson, her grandfather, liked the letters as well.
“I think it’s a great offering for the children and for the people of Tacoma to use the public squares for family fun and entertainment,” said Beeson, 60, of University Place.
James Sinding watched as the children played with the letters, an idea that’s his creation.
“I wanted it to be a really interactive piece,” said Sinding, 23.
For six weeks, he cut and painted thousands of 10-inch letters in his backyard in Tacoma. Sinding estimates that he made 4,000 letters.
“I lost count at 2,000,” he said.
“Letters” was funded by the Tacoma Arts Commission at a cost of $2,000 as part of Space Works, a project to fill empty storefronts and other spaces in the city.
Tiana Bishop, 27, of Tacoma spelled out her first name and watched her son, a niece and a cousin spell out theirs.
“Show me you can spell,” Bishop told her 5-year-old son, Kalel.
“I’m trying to broaden his horizons to different things out there,” Bishop said. “It brought the community together. This is great.”
Bishop’s niece Monique Stumvoll, 8, said she liked the colors.
Red, yellow, pink, green, blue, maroon.
“There’s a lot of them,” said the Tacoma fourth-grader.
The festival was one of six that the museum sponsors throughout the year with events and free admission.
“It’s a great day for families to come to the museum and get to participate in art,” said Courtney Vowels, the museum’s director of education.
Children and adults also made chalk drawings on the plaza and on the concrete entrance to the museum.
“Look how well you stay in the lines,” Stephanie Judy, 41, of Tacoma told 3-year-old daughter Carina after she colored the inside of a triangle with pink.
Carina’s brother Brendan, 6, added touches of yellow to a rainbow.
“They’re good at this,” said their father, Richard, also 41. “They like their art.”
Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647
steve.maynard@thenewstribune.com
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