ART
C’mon Get Happy For
#Monkeyshines2024
Photos By Brian Farmer
By DOUG MACKEY
Tacoma has a long—and sometimes sordid—affiliation with primates. Loved and pitied, Ivan the Gorilla languished 27 years in his concrete prison at the B&I Circus store. If you’re old enough, you might remember Java and Jive, the pair of traumatized monkey confined to a Plexiglass box in their namesake coffee-pot juke joint. The art scene, however, has been home to two other wholly uplifting simian-related events. One, The Hundredth Monkey, was a series of parties birthed years ago by artist Lynn Di Nino, which continues to unite Tacoma’s creatives. The other, Monkeyshines, is gearing up for a twenty-first year of making people “happy.”
The quoted word above comes courtesy of the woman known as Ms. Monkey, the annual tradition’s creator, whose real identity is what local arts luminary Tom Llewellyn calls “the worst kept secret in Tacoma.” It’s a word heard repeatedly as she describes both the impetus and the results of having initiated the longstanding and ongoing Tacoma tradition of creating, hiding and discovering the magical Chinese New Year—animal-themed objects, which are often made of glass. It’s an activity that ALL Tacomans can partake in, in ALL parts of town.
Our story begins in November 2003. While blowing glass with a gentleman we will call Mr. Monkey, Ms. Monkey was feeling blue. “It was November, and it was dreary and godawful, and I just wanted to get HAPPY. What can I do? I’m responsible for my own outlook on life.” The two future Monkeys resolved to “make some glass, hide it on beaches, stalk people, and watch people find it. Watch them be happy. We’ll be happy. Our trajectory will change for the rest of the year!”
Mr. Monkey just happened to have a bronze monkey stamp, so each blown glass globe would be identifiable. They ultimately created 200 floats. Initially, they hoped to hide them all by Christmas, but time ran short. Checking a calendar, they noted the Chinese New Year was approaching, AND it just happened to be the Year of the Monkey. “We said, ‘How serendipitous!’”
“I’m always a ‘How far can I go? Take it to the limit!” kind of girl, so we needed a press release,” Ms. Monkey said, which meant she needed an identity and a name for the project too. “Ms. Monkey” and “Monkeyshines” (referring to a trick or a prank) were born.
That all works, they thought. Having hidden the objects, they soon discovered that not enough buzz had been created, so they enlisted “lively Hilltop glass studio students” to start calling news stations. “Something’s going on! We’re finding glass in Tacoma!” they enthused in a flurry of calls. “The news stations came down, and it was all very exciting, and boy, were we happy!” In all, thirty people were involved that first year.
“In my mind, my little deed was done. I’m good. But the next year, people wanted to do it again.” And they did, for the next twenty years, representing all twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. “If I knew I was going to do this for twenty one years,” Ms. Monkey stresses, “I may have picked a different moniker. But I’m owning it. I’ve been Ms. Monkey for twenty one years now, so that’s who I am.”
“To keep myself engaged, I tend to write a different cause statement. One year was “Pick up trash.” The thing is, it’s not about stuff. The stuff is the little carrot to get people out of the house. It’s a community builder, and people are so generous.”
One thing Ms. Monkey emphasizes is the Tacoma-centric nature of the project. “Tacomans are just a little different. Which is a beautiful thing. We love to get involved. We still have that small-town vibe in Tacoma, where you can do silly stuff and people get behind it. You can’t be too pretentious in Tacoma—that does not fly, right? You’ve got to be homegrown, authentic. You need to be real. That’s what gives you cred in Tacoma. And there’s a lot of love here. If you want to get involved, it’s all about love—and that’s easy!”
This year, her focus is unity. “Without getting into all the divisiveness thing that’s going on, let’s figure out what unifies us. And what our commonalities are. And how we can love and respect each other. And unify our city. Let’s be a beacon for the Puget Sound region. Let’s be a beacon for the world. Let’s show people how it’s done!”
Now there ARE some unofficial rules in Monkeyshine world, which is “self-governing,” as she describes it. “[The rules] didn’t come from me,” Ms. Monkey adds. “The evolution of fairness, equity and propriety have come from the community itself. This is not about commodification.”
A few of these rules: If you find a Monkeyshine, keep it. If you find a second, leave it or re-hide it. Don’t give them away, much less should you sell them. Monkeyshines are “a way to get happy—make somebody happy, and be happy yourself. Explore the city itself: Parks and beaches and streets and merchants. Bring out the childlike wonder in each other! It’s a reason to dialogue with a perfect stranger, you know? To get through the winter together!”
Throughout the years, the scope of the project has only gotten bigger. “We keep increasing our numbers because people are freaking generous.” This year, Ms. Monkey expects 2500 to 3000 pieces of glass to be created and hidden. In addition, a dozen or so commissioned artists have created another 1500 works. “We’ve gone from 200 to 4000 objects in 21 years.” This doesn’t include other artists who’ve “gone rogue,” creating and hiding their own themed work in a variety of media. “Rogies, oh my gosh! They’ve answered in spades with their dragon-themed artwork!”
But what really excites Ms. Monkey after all these years is the generational impact of the Monkeyshine phenomenon. “There’s a third generation, in some instances,” of Tacomans invested in the project. “The societal impact, the generational impact!’ she exclaims. “It’s amazing how meaningful Monkeyshines has become to this community. It’s a big deal!”
Okay. Now you know about Monkeyshines. But when to start looking? “Use #monkeyshine2024 as a search,” she says. “When people start finding things, that would be a good time to start looking.” And what of the future? “Well, Ms. Monkey is tired, you know?” she says with a laugh, “I only envisioned doing this once.” Whenever she threatens to retreat from the project, Ms. Monkey gets a lot of pushback. But, whether her role changes or not, she assures us there are “forces” moving Monkeyshines into the future.
“I’d like to see the spirit of community and the spirit of Monkeyshines move forward,” she says. “Let’s try something really different and try to be nice to each other, right? And lead that way. And be kind and fair and loving.” And, of course, get happy.