Archived from TacomasOutsidersGuide.com circa 2018·Today this work continues as THE WALL & Stars 4 Peace: y2112
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Tacoma's Outsider's Guide — 1 Sound 1 Life, w/ Artists 4 Life in the Sound

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Tacoma's Lumins Festivus

Recovered from the Internet Archive capture of 15 March 2018. Images not recovered: 41.

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We are Artists 4 Life in the Sound

At 2014's Lumins after party, Sporty Lee played with the amazing Pig Snout - every year we try to do some-thing unexpected.

Destiny Saturday: We Introduce New Sounds

Ultimately, we have created something extraordinary for Tacoma communities:
A timeless tradition celebrating the rare life we share in the South Puget Sound.  Scroll through slides below to see where we have been and what we have done.

If able, please support us financially - your contribution does much for us and all.

Also, find more about:  2012  2013  2014
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"One cannot predict the next mythology any more than one can predict tonight's dream; for a mythology is not an ideology. It is not something projected from the brain, but something experienced from the heart."

Joseph Campbell, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space.

Artists 4 Life in the Sound
Who We Are & What We Do

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The Next Generation Leads - It is Best that Way. Picture from 2012
Every Autumn Tacoma Celebrates our unique place in the world with a delightful night of music, much festivity and a fabulous evening procession of lighted sculpture.  

We start at Wright Park, descend through the streets of downtown's Theater Row and proceed to a destination not always revealed until the event. .

Olympic Intervention
Reason to Believe in Community

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Drawing inspiration from Earthbound Productions of Olympia, WA, our Spirit is in kind with the beautiful people of our South Sound sister city

2013 Theme & Stark Observations
of Life in the South Puget Sound

image: PictureDr. Stark Supports Our Efforts
2013's Oceanic theme highlighted the work of Dr. John Stark, a preeminent world authority on marine life in the South Puget Sound.  An internationally renown ecotoxicologist presiding at Washington State University's Puyallup campus, John's support of our efforts is testament to the need for a new approach to the discussion of life in our region. We  reach our city and the world.

John's work constitutes a substantial contribution to our understanding of oceanic life cycles and the impact our actions bear on life in the South Puget Sound.  His work stands testament to the beneficial effect one person's work can have on her or his community, the region in which they live and indeed the entire world - his contribution to his field has led to historic legislative changes in the European Union and Washington State legislatures respectively. 
On Sept 5, 2014 we worked with John to bring his work to  to the organizations and people that will put his knowledge to use.  In short, we hosted him with a party to celebrate his work; we invited him to speak and had the event professionally recorded. 

In the coming days you will be invited to experience the sounds of that night, and to hear about the nature of John's work in his own voice.  John's work has not yet been translated into layman's terms - it is still in the research format used to communicate at the university and legislative levels. 

So hosting this event was a dramatic and important step in popularizing an important work with important implications for our lives.  Getting his work into the hands of those at the ground level actively working to spread awareness in the fields related to his work, we have begun the process by which knowledge and understanding spread to others.

Tacoma's Lumins Festivus 
An Autumn Tradition for a Grand People

a Wright Kind of Approach
with Awesome Inspiration

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Beyond the image or the symbol, the light of life itself is the radiant reason for our being. For loved ones and lighted beings all, join us every Fall . .
The Creation of a Holiday: 
Read the History & Inspiration.

2012  The Stellar Galactic Zü of Life
Spontaneous Legend

2012's Autumn Lumins Festivus came together quick.  Special recognition is due to Aaron Stevens of Broadway Center for his openness and consideration:  He gave the go-ahead with less than 2 months to prepare from scratch, and without his faith our accomplishment would not have been possible.

Eli Sterling and Nicole Mercier of Olympia's Earthbound Productions are also due great gratitude, as are many others in the Olympia tribe.  Without Eli's personal efforts in 2012, and the spirited collaboration of his Earthbound team, Tacoma's first ever Lumins Festivus would not have been possible. 

2013 we did it again:  In high celebration of The Oceanic we did it again, this time demonstrating the light hearted, higher minded intent of the festivities with a candle lit ceremony in the joyful assembly of friends.  Historee happened again . . 

2014 we brought the elements of the first two years together, and adding the elements of higher learning and seasonal events highlighting elements of South Sound life, we have now established the intent of our work with precedent and very much community involvement across a wide range of

Lumins are Lighted Sculptures
They're Inexpensive, Easy & Fun to Make

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Typical Lumins are a lighted sculpture made mostly of reed and rice paper and illuminated with a variety of lights.  There are no limits on what a Lumins can be, though participants are encouraged to create something keeping with the current year's theme. 

           2015's theme is The Airs of the Heavens. 

Glass is encouraged because this city is known for glass, but what a 'Lumins' actually becomes is determined by the artist.  The one to the right is an Olympian's ornate shark, you see simpler stars there in the background, and below are examples out-of-the-box creations pushing the boundaries of imaginative creativity.  For more examples, visit our Gallery page.

For an introduction to making lumins, visit our website (a work in progress) here.  Or email us to be on our email list - we'll introduce you to the craft.

Be sure to sign up for Tacoma's Arts Listserv, where we post upcoming events.

Inspiration  Others around the World . .

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Enlightenment is Possible - Brightening is Inevitable
Luminaria celebrations are a global, world-wide phenomena expressed in a great variety of forms by peoples on every continent - there are records of processions in humankind's oldest written histories.  Consider the works of others, what they have done, and what we/you might do as well.

Most of all, be you, and give material form to that lighted image that is in your mind alone.  Give it color, form and your unique expression for a city Festivus pouring through streets of Destiny awash in The Oceanic: 

        Delight in Destiny - it's our Autumnal Procession of Lights . .

If we can share anything, we can do anything:  Access is Progress

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The limits of our collective creative potential are altogether without bounds:
Together, we can do anything.  Some provide materials - or money for them.  Others provide the space.  Artists and families create - we all celebrate.  The Experience is shared with all, including a great many people that never expected it, hopefully inspired to wonder by a community's delightful celebration of joyous life.  Our whole community benefits, and it's (very) fun.

September 28, 2013, experience the celebration of the South Puget Sound's wide ranging communities of artists, musicians, individuals, families and businesses that desire the coalescence of Tacoma's wider, like-minded communities unto a city-wide extravaganza of music and spectacle of light in joyous assembly.  This year's theme is established, and soon enough we will be making luminaria again.  Stay tuned - and join us if you're wanting to . .
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The Meaning of Life, the Universe & Everything
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Eli's Charging White Rhino broke through tradition and literally led us to the Steps . .
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Vicci sang her birthday set accoustic
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Intuition illumined, an inspired Olympian's shark was her tribe's prelude to this Autumn's Oceanic theme
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Unimaginable wonders unfold in the mind of s/he that dons Zoe's Lotus Crown of Life (here worn by Charlie)
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Strangers had much fun together
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All Orange Cats are Buddhas - Lia Craven's Buddha Cat is also a Key Element in the Stellar Galactic Zu of Life
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Of course, we christened the historic Spanish Steps, and blessed them: Important things. This year we return to them again. .
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Lumins adorning hospitable homes of friends
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The Olympians were awesome fun comrades and have welcomed us as friends.
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Abby taunts The Oceanic in yoU !
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We started at the Market on Market Street
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Abby's Jellyfish Prelude Dancing Afters (New Frontier) Thanks Steve D. for pictures!
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I think we touched Vicci's soul - she touched ours (surprised for her birthday)
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A small, finished star inside the frame of a large star frame
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The Grand Cinema invited us to install Lumins for the closing ceremony of 2012's Tacoma Film Festival
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Paper parties are fun with friends

inspiration elsewhere . .

http://www.luzinterruptus.com/
http://www.procession.org/Photos.php

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