Memories Made (part 6b)

 As mentioned in the last post, we took the exit/entrace door to the garden display at the Chihuly Garden and Glass.

The first captivating display was.....

"The centerpiece of Chihuly Garden and Glass is the Glasshouse. A 40-foot tall, glass and steel structure covering 4,500 square feet of light-filled space, the Glasshouse is the result of Chihuly’s lifelong appreciation for conservatories. The installation in the Glasshouse is an expansive 100-foot long sculpture in a color palette of reds, oranges, yellows and amber. Made of many individual elements, it is one of Chihuly’s largest suspended sculptures. The perception of the artwork varies greatly with natural light and as the day fades into night."

Once through the glasshouse you find yourself in the botanical garden. This is not the first garden where Chihuly has shown his artwork, but this is the first garden where he worked with a landscape designer to create a space unlike that of any garden or exhibition elsewhere. The unique plant collection is specially chosen to complement Chihuly’s work and the striking colors and forms of the trees, plants, and flowers create a rich backdrop for the art. 

In the middle of this landscape, on a hilltop of black Mondo grass, is “Pacific Sun.” With its yellow and orange, snakelike rays, the piece has the power to brighten even the grayest of Seattle days. 

This space features a dynamic red glass sculpture composed of trumpet-shaped botanical ‘flowers’. Silhouetted against dark green weeping Alaskan cedars, the color is nothing short of remarkable.

A collection of Neodymium Reeds and Seal Pups among nearly 500-year-old salvaged old growth Western Red Cedar from the Olympic Peninsula is a key anchor of the gardens. 

Besides flowers and glassart there were several other items that caught one's eyes.

One of them being fluffy......

And the other being bushy....

The use of color is quite masterly, moving from subtle and varied to bold in quick succession, keeping one's senses on the alert. 

Below is the Citron Icicle Tower which measures 30 feet tall.

Lucky for us, there was a glassblowing demonstration included in the walk around the garden. 

Naturally, we stopped to watch before continuing our walk. 

It’s fascinating to watch these artists in action, as they work with the molten glass to form the desired shapes.

The Chihuly Glass and Garden is right next door to a Seattle icon the Space Needle, a 605 foot tall observation tower built in 1962.

No we did not go up the tower......height and I are not buddies.

But within the Space Needles proximity  and at the end of the garden tour,  is 20-foot-tall pink “Viola Crystal Tower.” 

 "It might come as a surprise to many that the pink candy-like pieces aren’t glass, but rather a type of plastic Chihuly and his team invented. And as for the sculpture’s name, it’s a nod to the artist’s mother, Viola, who is said to have nurtured Chihuly’s love of and deep connection to nature."

And so this is the end of our tour of the Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, but not the end of this post.

I decided to add this last photograph.

 

Seeing Chihuly's art in this garden, I remembered taking the following photo in Murano. 

So I dug it out, thinking it was one of his works as well. But after further research I learned that this sculpture was actually created by Simone Cenedese as a focal point for the 2006 Murano celebration of Natale di Vetro.  

 

The world's tallest glass Christmas tree,weighing three tons (2000 pounds). The tree was three meters (~3 feet) in diameter and consisted of 2,000 metal rods and 1,000 glass tubes. Illuminated by 40 halogen lights.

Inspired by Dale Chihuly's art.

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