Washigton State 2024 - The Chihuly Garden or Inside a Kaleidoscope

 Near the Space Needle in the former fairgrounds is the Chihuly Garden. Chihuly is an artist known for his fanciful glass sculptures. I've been fortunate enough to have seen 2 site specific exhibitions of his work, One in Chicago and the other in Arizona, but the Garden is something special. 

The first part of the collection is housed indoors. As you enter you encounter an enormous, glistening white piece, suggesting ice and snowflakes, which was commissioned by the upscale retail emporium Barneys New York for a Christmas window in 2015. After this visual appetizer the next gallery is focused on what he draws his inspiration from. Smaller examples of his work are displayed among largely Native American textiles and objects such as baskets to illustrate the connections between these and his artworks.

The second gallery shows his process. Sketches and drawings are hung on the walls next to the finished sculptures. This gallery features pieces that are largely marine oriented. Fish and turtles swim among twisting glass spires. In the center of the gallery is a massive piece of sensuously curved, interwoven, almost opaque, grasslike blue glass tubes with sea creatures playing around them.

The following galleries feature room sized displays of colorful, playful landscapes of brightly colored glass. The black walls and spotlights highlighting the artworks resting on highly reflective black platforms make one feel as if they inside a kaleidoscope. 

Outside in the garden area the colors create brilliant highlights to the natural hues of nature, which, during our visit, were the vivid tones of autumn. It is simultaneously exhilarating and visually exhausting. 

From a mere technical viewpoint the museum succeeds brilliantly in it's mission. It allows the visitor to explore and understand both the artist's inspiration and creative process. The reflective black bases many of the works sit on mirror the reflective nature of glass itself and the fastidiously aimed spotlights  highlight excellently the colors and textures of the pieces. I left feeling as if a portion of my soul had been refreshed, the mark of a fulfilling museum visit. 

We made a quick trip through the museum gift shop where one can purchase small scale Chihuly sculptures but I decided I had better uses for $8000 and, well, we have a cat.

 

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