MATT DRISCOLL: MARTIN BLANK AT THE MUSEUM OF GLASS >>>

Fans of the classic John Cusack film Grosse Point Blank may be surprised to hear Martin Blank is currently holed up at the Tacoma Museum of Glass, engaged in a Visiting Artist residency that will keep him in the City of Destiny through the month of June. The purpose of his stay is to “create components for ‘Fluent Steps,’ a new permanent installation designed for the Museum’s Main Plaza reflecting pool and scheduled to open in early fall.  The sculpture will capture the emotive nature of water and play with the light and water echoing the Pacific Northwest’s unique environment,” according to the Museum of Glass’s Web site.

And, of course, he’ll probably need to kill a few folks, right? He is, Martin Q. Blank, after all.

Wrong.

As it turns out there’s more than one Martin Blank in this world, and the one who’ll be at the Tacoma Museum of Glass isn’t a hit man. He’s a world renowned glass artist who began his career as one of Chihuly’s lackies and has gone on to become one of North America’s premier figurative sculptors.

While this revelation may disappoint Cusack buffs, in term of glass art, Tacoma’s receiving a much better deal from this Blank. If you’re interested in watching him work, Martin Blank and his team will be constructing the new installation in the Museum of Glass Hot Shop from now until June. A schedule of that work can be found here.

You can also check out the Hot Shop action live via the Interweb anytime you want by going here.