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| Dale Chihuly, Blue Flori Sun |
Dale Chihuly is an
American glass artist, trained in the United States and Italy, who makes
incredibly intricate and colorful blown glass sculptures. His work can be seen in over 200 museums
worldwide. I first encountered Chihuly’s
work in London at the Victoria & Albert Museum and have since seen it
elsewhere, including the University of Wisconsin where he participated in their
glass program, the first in the country.
He has created a number of exhibitions within botanical gardens
including the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
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| Dale Chihuly, Yellow Glass and Cactus |
I had seen pictures
of Chihuly’s previous exhibition at the Desert Botanical Garden in 2010, so
when I learned of the exhibit being shown again at the botanical gardens, and
then fortuitously needed to travel to Phoenix for the day to visit a friend, I
knew the one touristy thing I wanted to do during my 14 hour trip was to visit
the Chihuly in the Garden and Chihuly After Dark events at the Desert Botanical
Garden. I was thrilled to be invited as
a guest of the Desert Botanical Garden on a Saturday so I could enjoy Chihuly
After Dark. Chihuly’s blown glass
installations are beautiful during the day, but they are stunning after dark.
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| Sunset at Desert Botanical Garden |
Even before entering
the garden visitors are greeted with a trio of yellow-green glass sculptures
accompanied by a backdrop of hills and cacti in the distance. Just inside is a tall bright blue sculpture
titled the Sapphire Star that looks like a big puffy dandelion. While Chihuly has named each of his
sculptures, we found ourselves naming them based on what we each thought they
looked like.
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| Dale Chihuly, Sapphire Star |
In addition to the Sapphire
Star, the main courtyard has a number of groupings of sculptures. Each of Chihuly’s sculptures are incorporated
within the desert cacti and shrubs in different ways. Some are short and curvy, winding through the
desert greenery. Others stand
individually, looking as if they sprouted from the ground. Still others are huge, colorful, intertwined
masses of tubular glass.
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| Dale Chihuly, Red Reeds |
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| Dale Chihuly, Neodymium Reeds and Black Niijima Floats |
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| Dale Chihuly, Cattails |
Away from the
entrance courtyard are a number of winding paths which lead visitors through
the garden flora, punctuated throughout with vibrant Chihuly sculptures. Be sure to venture off the paved paths to
follow the dirt loop trails which also have Chihuly installations of their own. The Plants & People of the Sonoran Desert
Loop Trail featured two of my favorites, the White Belugas, with bulbous white
glass growing out of drift wood, and the Sonoran Boat and Blue Crystals, a boat
floating on the water overflowing with colorful glass forms of all shapes and
sizes.
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| Dale Chihuly, White Belugas |
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| Dale Chihuly, Sonoran Boat and Blue Crystals |
Be sure to keep your
eyes open for the perfectly round globes of glass on the ground interspersed
amongst the pillars of glass. They can
easily go unnoticed in the dark next to their brilliantly lit neighbors, but
they too are fascinating pieces, each with their own unique patterns. There is a separate piece entirely made of
globes, the Polyvitro Chandelier and Tower, these more colorful, clustered
together and hanging suspended. Their
fragility was made even more apparent as they swayed and twisted in the breeze.
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| Dale Chihuly, Globes |
If visiting Phoenix before
the end of May, or if you are a Phoenix resident but don’t think botanical
gardens are your thing, make a point to visit the Desert Botanical Garden for
the Chihuly exhibition. Photos show some
of the beauty, but they can’t convey the exquisite detail and intricacy of
these colorful sculptures which can only be fully appreciated in person.
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| Dale Chihuly, Summer Sun |
Chihuly in the Garden will be exhibited at
the Desert Botanical Garden until May 18, 2014, and is open until 8:00 p.m.,
which allows for watching the sunset and seeing the Chihuly installations lit
at night. The garden is also open late
for Chihuly After Dark every Saturday through April 19, 2014, until
midnight. Not only can visitors explore
the gardens late into the evening, they can do so while enjoying a cup of wine
or local beer. If visiting the Desert
Botanical Garden on the weekend, especially for Chihuly After Dark, be sure to
reserve tickets online or by phone. Tickets do sell out and the parking lot fills
quickly.
