Get to know the layout of the Museum before you visit. The visitor guide and map is also available at the Admission Desk.
1 - Grand Hall
Made at MOG
Select works from the Museum’s Collection.
Earthlings and Extraterrestrials: 20 Years of Kids Design Glass
Over the past twenty years, we have made a lot of pieces! In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Kids Design Glass Program, the Museum has pulled together a selection of creatures from the program’s body of work featuring a range of critters from both this world and others, created by the minds of children over the past two decades. In Earthlings and Extraterrestrials: 20 Years of Kids Design Glass, these pieces will be set in conversation with a collage of paintings and photographs which highlight the impact of climate change on our planet.
2 - Jane Russell Hot Shop, Balcony
The Maestro in Series: Explorations of Form, Color, and Technique
This display of works by Maestro Lino Tagliapietra presents eight virtuoso pieces from eight different series of works made between the years 2005–2017. The series featured include: Cello, Piccadilly, Chiocciola, Vienna, Saba, Kookabura, Madras, and Poesia.
3 - Art Alley
Paying tribute to the imagination of children, this exhibition showcases glass sculptures designed by children under the age of 12 and crafted by MOG’s Hot Shop Team.
4 - Viola A. Chihuly Gallery
A Two-Way Mirror: Double Consciousness in Contemporary Glass by Black Artists
A Two-Way Mirror is an exhibition of contemporary Black artists who have used glass to create work that deconstructs social, cultural, gender, and racial identity concerns. The artists range in background from African American, to British, to Puerto Rican. Each artist uses glass to reflect thoughts and bodies that have historically been fraught with exploitation. Due to its reflectivity and translucence, glass is an apt medium to interrogate identity constructs such as the theory of double consciousness presented by W.E.B. Du Bois in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk.
5 - North Gallery
Nancy Callan: Forces at Play celebrates the thoughtfulness, wit, and sense of wonder that are signatures of Callan’s work and invites viewers to see the medium of glass with the same curiosity and passion that have fueled Callan’s artistic career.
6 - Permanent Collection Gallery
Spotlight on Chihuly celebrates Chihuly’s lively perspectives on glass by showcasing examples of some of his most recognizable series from the Museum’s Permanent Collection.
7 - Leonard & Norma Klorfine Foundation Gallery
Out of the Vault: Art History 101
Out of the Vault: Art History 101 takes visitors on a visual journey through the four basic pillars of art history: landscape, portraiture, still life, and abstraction, showcased through new and significant acquisitions from the Museum’s collections.
Untamed: The Anatomy of Desire
Untamed: The Anatomy of Desire will feature works created during Bri Chesler’s 2022 residency, in addition to work made between 2018–2023, and will include multiple large-scale multimedia installations. Chesler’s work is eye-catching and alluring. Her visually striking sculptures are meant to evoke a deep emotional response, exploring the multifaceted nature of human behavior and desire.
Outdoor Installations
8 - Water Forest, 2002
Howard Ben Tré, Collection of City of Tacoma
Water rises and falls in a forest of vertical elements of clear acrylic and bronze tubing, designed so that people can walk through.
9 - Fluent Steps, 2009
Martin Blank
The sculptures celebrate the many moods of water through three small islands of glass: (A) Echo, (B) Cascades, and (C) Wisps.
10 - Chihuly Bridge of Glass, 2002
Dale Chihuly, Arthur Andersson, Collection of City of Tacoma
Three distinct installations comprise the Chihuly Bridge of Glass: Seaform Pavilion, Crystal Towers, and Venetian Wall.