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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.