BBC POP UP

An ancient art form for today's problems.

Tacoma is a gritty industrial port city and one notorious neighbourhood in particular has a long history of being blighted by poverty and violence.

But things are changing in Hilltop, in part because of an unlikely project aimed at keeping at-risk children off the streets and away from drugs.

BBC Pop Up's Matt Danzico reports on how the ancient art form of glassblowing is proving an attractive alternative to gangs.

Full story: http://bbc.in/18w0lm3.

One of the first bloggers I met with when we arrived in Tacoma was Derek Young, who has been writing the local blog Exit133 since 2005. When I asked Derek for some suggestions about things that people might not know about Tacoma he smiled and said "Monkeyshines."

Through a little social media magic we were able to connect with the artists behind the Monkeyshine Project and learn more about the history of this community art hunt.

Part of the magic of Monkeyshines is that the founders of the project have kept their identities a secret - they are only known to Tacoma residents as Ms & Mr Monkeyshine. The date of the hunt is also kept hidden until the last moment.

Twelve years ago, Ms Monkeyshine, who is a glass artist, was talking with Mr Monkeyshine, one of her former glassblowing students, about how she felt Tacoma needed a little cheer. They came up with the the idea of creating glass balls in the style of Japanese glass fishing floats and hiding them around town for others to find. 

Each ball had a glass stamp of a monkey and coincidentally, the Chinese New Year celebration for that year was the year of the monkey. 

So began a Tacoma tradition of hiding and hunting for Monkeyshines around the celebration of Chinese New Year. Each year Ms Monkeyshine, Mr Monkeyshine and an ever growing army of volunteers work to make the project a success. 

The Monkeyshine Project gets some promotional help from another Tacoma art project that involves a hunt. Beautiful Angle is a guerilla arts poster project in Tacoma run by graphic designer Lance Kagey and writer Tom Llewellyn. They have been designing, printing and sharing posters around Tacoma since 2002. A few days before the Monkeyshines hunt, the Beautiful Angle team hang posters with a design related to Chinese New Year around the city for Tacoma residents to find and take home.  When residents see the Beautiful Angle posters around town, they know that the Monkeyshine hunt is near.  

Monkeyshine volunteers holding the Chinese Zodiac poster that was designed by Beautiful Angle. 

Last Thursday, I met up with the artists known as Ms Monkeyshine and Mr Monkeyshine who were joined by at least a 100 volunteers who showed up at the very early hour of 4am to help hide Monkeyshines. 

Smiling, happy Monkeyshine volunteers at 4am.

In addition to glass balls, Monkeyshine items include marbles, ceramic medallions, tea cups and ornaments made by Tacoma artists. After some coffee, donuts and a pep talk, the volunteers grabbed a box of the artwork and spread out across the city to hide the treasures. 

A sampling of some of the Monkeyshine treasures that were created by Tacoma artists and students.

I tagged along with Ms Monkeyshine and Mr Monkeyshine as they criss-crossed the city to hide Monkeyshines. We drove downtown to the Port of Tacoma and then north to Point Defiance Park with many stops along the way. Some of the items were tucked in trees and under bushes.  Other items were placed in plain sight, often in unlikely locations (including in bodies of water - Ms Monkeyshine admitted she liked to see people go for a swim).  

Monkeyshine hiding places around Tacoma.

Ms Monkeyshine explained to me that one of the things she likes most about the project is that the process of hunting for Monkeyshines forces people to get out and explore the city. Strangers who are out hunting for Monkeyshines start talking to each other and sharing the things that they have found. 

One of the rules of the Monkeyshines is that the organisers ask you to only take one treasure. You can hunt for more, but if you find a second item you like better they ask that you hide the first one for someone else to find and enjoy too.

There were already plenty of Monkeyshine hunters out and about at 4 am. On more than one occasion we had to pretend we were hunting for Monkeyshines so that the early morning hunters would not know we were actually out hiding the treasures. When we finished hiding all of the Monkeyshines, the sun was just starting to rise and I decided to retrace our route to see if I could talk with some of the Monkeyshine hunters. 

I drove back along the waterway and out back north to Point Defiance Park where I stopped at Owen Beach. Just as I was about to ask this woman if she was hunting for Monkeyshines, she found one of the glass balls under some drift wood on the beach.

First time Monkeyshine hunter and new Tacoma resident found a glass Monkeyshine at Owen Beach in Point Defiance Park. 

Watch a video of this Monkeyshine hunter talk about her first hunt and check out some of the Monkeyshine finds shared on Twitter and Instagram.