Chihuly Garden & Glass

Chandeliers of massive proportions, made of hand blown glass? I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that might look like.

I didn’t have to wonder for too long what epic glass art sculptures might look like, because as even as we walked up to the museum entrance we could see some of the large works peeking out and enticing us in.

Native Washingtonian Dale Chihuly is world renown for his glass works. He’s had installations in Venice, Italy (where he studied glass blowing), Israel, the Netherlands, among many other places. Seattle’s Chihuly Garden & Glass exhibit is a permanent homage to the artist who has taken inspiration from the Pacific Northwest in all his works from the waters—rain included—, gardens, and native cultures.

Chihuly saw an exhibit of Native American baskets in his hometown of Tacoma and found inspiration for his asymmetrical and organic style. Having to fight the effects of gravity, at their age the baskets sagged and wrinkled. Yay museums(!), for their ability to broaden our minds and inspire us.

His sculptures fill up entire rooms.

One of my favorite rooms was the one with the Persian Ceiling. Colorful glass shapes over the ceiling illuminated the room in rainbows of light.

Everything is larger than life. And vibrant.

After throwing some floats into the Dutch sea to see how they interacted with the light and water, he watched some local teens collect them in a rowboat. Inspired, he then created a new installation of collections in boats.

Elaborate and awe-inspiring are his chandeliers. Some of them hang from ceiling to floor!

Chihuly suffered a few accidents (one by car, another by bodysurfing) leading to the loss of vision in his left eye and a dislocated shoulder. The shoulder injury meant he could no longer blow glass himself, but he continued to make sketches and direct others to continue making his creations.

The colors and from the Persian Ceiling were my favorite indoor piece, but the glasshouse and garden were THE loveliest part(s) of the whole experience.

Chihuly loves gardens, greenhouses, and conservatories and it was his dream to design one along with art within it. The warm-toned floral sculpture inside the glass house he created is 100 feet long and is one of his largest suspended sculptures.

He believes his work looks best in nature. In fact, he loves that his pieces look like they could have been created by nature altogether.

As Chihuly said himself, “Glasshouses come in many beautiful sizes and shapes and are some of the most incredible buildings in the world. When you walk through them, you feel peaceful and inspired.”