Today I was going through hundreds of wild life photos from our recent Sarasota, Florida trip when I came across these images of exquisite art glass by Dale Chihuily, glassmaker extraordinaire.
I had forgotten we left the beaches behind to visit the Chihuily Collection in St. Petersburg, about an hour away. For me, this small, well designed museum was one of the highlights of the trip.
The collection began chronologically with Chihuily’s older work, such as Seaforms, which evoke underwater forms with their flowy, asymmetrical shapes.
There’s the Venetians series, with a work missing. One piece was stolen right off its platform, which is not something museums are proud of. Fortunately, the piece was returned after the thief discovered he couldn’t sell it on the open market, and will be reinstalled shortly.
Chihuily is known for his intensely colored Macchia series. This large blue vessel make me think of a morning glory.
Stunning Chandeliers, made up of as many as 1,000 elements of glass attached to a stainless steel base, dominate this large gallery. These works are shipped in pieces, each individually numbered, and are assembled on site. It took a large team from Chihuily’s studio 8 hours to install this blue beauty.
Here are side and bottom views of a smaller multicolored Chandelier beside it.
When we came across this nook, we immediately thought of Leslie, Jay’s sister, who creates very elegant and striking Ikebana arrangements in Portland, OR. Chihuily presents his own whimsical glass Ikebana series including 3-D and 2-D works.
Then we moved into a dark, dramatic room featuring this boat piece full of large globes. Chihuily called the globes Niijima Floats, after an island in Tokyo Bay and the small Japanese fishing floats he found growing up on Puget Sound. I couldn’t help but recall other Chihuily boats and floats we had seen in outdoor installations at the Phoenix and New York Botannical Gardens.
A passageway with this ethereal ceiling, conjuring up thoughts of lily pads , flowers, and other natural elements, lead us down the hall to the showstopper.
Finally, we reach Chihuily’s own true garden of glass, Mille Fiori (Italian for a thousand flowers). This modern, sleek indoor installation took on a completely different vibe (quite a contrast to the dessert!), combining refined forms from Chihuily’s entire career.
Here Chihuily took one of his Chandeliers and turned it upside down to anchor the end of Millie Fiori.
In person, you can really see how his work is based on natural forms. For example, tips of the blue plants are inspired by frog hands, with their knobby pads located on the tips of their fingers, giving them suction.
These green plants resemble agaves and other dessert plants.
We never made it to the glass blowing demonstration at the Morean Center nearby, which is included in the $20 admission fee, and comes highly recommended. Next time.
Dale Chihuily makes the art of glass blowing look easy, but it’s not. It’s physically demanding, technically challenging, capital intensive, and often unpredictable in lesser hands.
All of which serves to remind us that Chihuily took what some considered to be an almost forgotten minor art form and turned it into a major installation vehicle that is ubiquitous. And for that he is truly a modern master of glass, in a class of his own.
