Proctor Art Gallery — Attraction in Tacoma

Visited the gallery after stopping in at the Proctor Farmer’s Market. My wife and her grandmother were ahead of me and wanted to stop in so I met up with them. Upon entering the gallery the man working the register immediately came from behind the counter to take my bags from me. It was an awkward interaction because he didn’t say a word to me, didn’t ask if he could take my bags, just took them out of my hands. He then set them up on the counter by the register. I then met up with my wife and noticed both her and her grandmother have their bags. Both of them have 2 bags like I did. I then scan the gallery and see that every other customer has a bag and the only person to be relieved of their bags was me. After dropping my bags on the counter the gallery employee decided to follow me around. He was posted up behind the counter before I arrived. Since he was following me I asked the man why he chose to take my bags and he responded by saying he was trying to give me relief. I’m a 6 foot, 200 lb man in great physical condition. I didn’t need the “relief” and that would have been apparent. My wife’s grandmother is 75 years old and if anyone could have used relief it was her. Yet this man concluded she was fine to carry her bags and I was not. The only difference between me and the other 6 people in the gallery that day is that I was the only minority. It is my belief this man profiled me and was convinced I was either going to steal something by slipping it into a bag or damage something so he felt the need to take my bags and monitor me. I’m a resident of the North End of Tacoma and this experience was extremely disappointing. This sort of discrimination should not be tolerated. Whether deliberate or unconscious bias treating people differently based on the color of their skin is shameful. I emailed the owner the same day. The owner chose not to respond so it would seem they condone...

I had a great experience here .The salon style showings allowed for a lot of artist (with various mediums and directions ) to show their work .I met a wonderful collage artist named Sharon Styer whose work was amazing. I would highly suggest giving it a look...

Great choice of artists: jewelry, sculpture, watercolor, oil/acrylic, beautiful wood boxes, raku, photography. It's always a pleasure to...