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| Float Boat by Dale Chihuly |
If you have never heard of him, first, let me thank you because it means I am not the only one who had no idea what a Chihuly was. Secondly, it also supports my theory that I do not indeed live under a rock. For the uninitiated, here is a brief primer in Chihuly:
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| Beluga by Chihuly |
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| Five Orange Baskets in Glass (Chihuly) |
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| Red Reeds on Logs (Chihuly) |
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| Seaforms (Chihuly). There are several pieces in this study. |
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| Scarlet and Yellow (Chihuly) |
Dale Chihuly is a sculptor. His medium is glass. His creations can be mammoth or small. All are intricate. Some are colorful. Others are not. Some are plain. Others have impossibly tiny details. Whether you love him or you hate him, it is hard to deny that his work is amazing. It is certainly unique.
Chihuly came to my attention when the college I attended installed one on his pieces in the multi-story entryway of the library. The school sent out emails and publicity, printed photos in the alumnae magazine, and generally promoted this as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Second confession. My response to all this was, well, "meh."
And then I saw it live and in person on a visit to my alma mater in 2015.
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| Clear and Gold Tower (Chihuly) at the Williston Memorial Library at Mount Holyoke College. |
But I returned home and forgot about Chihuly, utterly and completely, or so I thought. Oh, sure, I read an article about him in a newspaper, something about his employees suing him, but that was more my professional interest as an attorney than any real interest in the artist. The occasional photo showed up in my Instagram feed. A classmate may have mentioned the piece from college. Overall, though, I lost interest.
And then articles started appearing in the New York papers and online. The New York Botanical Gardens was having a showing of his work in various locations in the park. Hmmm. I was mildly interested. When I started seeing photographs of the pieces lit up at night, I became somewhat more interested. When there was less than a week left for the exhibition, I bought tickets and my husband and two friends decided to make the trek from Joisey to da Bronx.
[It was not a trip for the feint of heart or for people in a hurry as there was a football game about to begin across the street at Fordham University, but that is a story for another day - or not.]
And, in addition to the photos above, this is what we found. . . .
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| Beluga (Chihuly) |
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| Glasshouse Fiori (Chuhuly). There was an entire wing of the main building lined with fingers of glass, perfectly placed to blend in with the flora. |
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| Persian Pond and Fiori (Chihuly) |
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| Seaform (Chihuly ) - another piece in the series. |
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| Sol del Citrón (Chihuly) |
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| Sapphire Star (Chihuly) |
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| Blue Polyvitro Crystals (Chihuly) - made from a resin rather than glass
My husband and I, along with our friends, wandered the Botanical Gardens on that beautiful Saturday in October, the last good day of the exhibit. We scoured the map provided by the NYBG to make sure we found every single piece of glass. We followed the app on our phones to make sure we missed nothing, not even the ones quietly hanging high up on the ceiling near the restaurant, pieces that could easily have been missed, pieces I failed to photograph.
Most everyone must have checked the forecast and decided to descent upon the exhibit that day as the gardens were packed. The rains came the next morning. That would not have been a good day to spend with Dale Chihuly.
We may not have seen the exhibit at night, but, I suspect, seeing all that glass on a gorgeous fall day may have been just as good.
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These photos can also be viewed on the Echo Glen Photoarts website at www.echoglenphotoarts,photoshelter.com or on Instagram @echoglenphotoarts. Because Mr. Chihuly's work is copyrighted, of course, the photos are not for sale.
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