THE WAY HE WORKS

Details from Tacoma, a sketch of Tacoma as seen from the window of the Weyerhaueser Family Gallery at Tacoma Art Museum, by The Child. Clockwise from upper left: (1) the flag on top of the Tacoma Dome; (2) the 705 bridge; (3) the Chihuly (blue) sculptures atop the Bridge of Glass; and (4) the (509) overpass.

"But wait! We don't run on fossil fuel and nor do our cells. Our economy does."
—David Macaulay, The body as a machine, circa 2008. From working sketches for The Way We Work.

The wife, the child, and I visited the David Macaulay exhibit, The Way He Works, at the Tacoma Art Museum this afternoon. The exhibit obviously inspired the imagination of the the child. The child took advantage of the provided sketching pencils and pads of vellum to draw in the style of David Macaulay that was presented throughout the exhibit.

The exhibit fascinated Troy's Work Table due to the sketches that showed a steady and patient hand, a vibrant imagination, and a willingness to examine, vision, and revision the world. An attention to detail grounded in scientific, empirical observation was tempered by emotion, humor, play, and questions (as evident in the above quote). In other words, this great mind didn't need to have all of the answers.

Another piece that fascinated TWT was the willingness to expose the process of the creative act—both in individual sketches and finished pages of a book. This was a topic that had been highlighted and lauded the night before in a meeting of Les sardines, a writing group of which TWT is a member. It was nice to see this process and exploration so concretely displayed, especially with the prior evening's conversation still fresh in my mind.

We will have to return to further explore the depths of this exhibit.