Hundreds of delicate spirals swirl spontaneously into one another creating an illusion of one entity. Rippling fluid forms stretch outward reaching for the ocean, and blooms of smooth florets climb upward to the sky. While visiting the Chihuly Collection, a new permanent art installation in St. Petersburg, it is easy to become so immersed by the organic imagery of the art that at times, it can feel as though you’ve entered a natural world, not of this world.
The Chihuly Collection, which opened in July of this year, is the newest addition to St. Petersburg’s budding, waterfront arts district. And even next to the Museum of Fine Arts and the future location of the Salvador Dali Museum, this collection really knows how to stand out. Already it has gained international notoriety as it is the only permanent Dale Chihuly collection in the world. And this uniquely personal and intimate art experience is completely worth a trip from a world away. So it is most definitely worth the ride over the Howard Franklin Bridge to St. Pete.
STEP THROUGH THE WORMHOLE
A trip to the Chihuly Collection isn’t like an ordinary museum visit. It is more like a pilgrimage, a journey back to the forgotten, to a place without rules, weights and restriction – the world of the imagination.As you walk through the Collection, which is set up in a series of rooms and alcoves, it becomes clear that even the building is a part of this art experience. Chihuly worked closely with Tampa-based architect Alberto Alfonso in designing the spaces of the gallery so that the environment of the art is a complementing element to the art itself.
So when you walk into the Boat Room, you aren’t entering an art exhibit, you are walking into a dream. Dark walls starkly contrast the delicate illumination on the dozens of glass balls sitting inside an abandoned boat, creating a striking image of an already awe-inspiring installation.
Equally striking is the transition from the Boat Room into Mille Fiore, which is the Collection’s main event. Visitors pass though the hallway that is the Persian Ceiling. The Persian Ceiling exhibit is essentially a hallway with a clear roof. Sitting onto of the clear glass roof are hundreds of assorted, brightly lit and colorful glass creations. So when you walk under the Persian Ceiling you feel just like you fell into a children’s kaleidoscope. As with most of Chihuly’s installations, you don’t simply look at the art, you are a part of art and even sometimes inside of the art.
You start to feel so at home inside of the Chihuly Collection that by the time you reach the grand finale of the collection, Mille Fiore, this new world doesn’t feel foreign and is unnaturally natural.
Mille Fiore looks like how the world might appear if a neon bomb fell from the sky and froze everything organic into glass. It feels like how Tim Burton’s dreams must feel. It feels like you could sit in this room and stare for hours before you ever could completely know what Mille Fiore feels like. It feels like anything is possible.
VISITING THE MUSEUM
Located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and the future location of the Salvador Dali Museum, the gallery is the newest addition to St. Petersburg’s growing arts district.
Be aware when planning your visit to the Chihuly Collection, that when you purchase your tickets you must select a time for your visit. Because of the Collection’s intimate setting, only a limited number of viewers are allowed in the space at a time. This may seem bothersome, but it prevents crowding and allows intimate interaction with each exhibit.
If you still want more after your visit to the Chihuly Collection, you can visit the nearby Glass Studio and Hot Shop to get a behind the scenes look at how glass art sculptures are made. Or if you are feeling even more adventurous, you can try a hands-on attempt at glassblowing. The Glass Studio and Hot Shop offer a range of studio classes and workshops.
ADDITIONAL READING: WHY IS CHIHULY SUCH A BIG DEAL?
Every piece of glass in the Chihuly collection, whether it be a goliath chandelier or minute detail in a vase share similar qualities of a spontaneous yet planned form, much like life itself. It is likely that the life in the art comes from the human breath that is responsible for bringing the forms to fruition.
“The process is so wonderfully simple, yet so mystifying. I’ve watched thousands of forms blown and I’m still amazed to see the first breath of air enter the hot gather of glass on the end of a blowpipe,” expresses Chihuly.
Glassblowing, the process of heating glass into a molten state and then inflating it by blowing air through a blowpipe, has been around since the Roman Empire. It is an ancient art form that may have been used as far back as 50BC. So why in the 1960’s did everything about glassblowing change? Well, some would say it started in a basement.
Chihuly’s often admits that his entrance into glassblowing was not planned and was somewhat impulsive. In 1965, in his basement, he blew his first glass bubble. “One odd part to this story is that without ever having seen glassblowing, I melted some glass and blew it with a pipe I found in the basement,” Chihuly said. “My fascination for it probably comes in part from discovering the process that night by accident. From that moment, I became obsessed with learning all I could about glass.”
While Chihuly was in his basement experimenting with melting glass, Harvey Littleton a ceramics professor, and Dominick Labino, a chemist and engineering, were beginning to experiment with a new glassblowing technique, which used small furnaces, that would eventually spark the Studio Glass Movement and forever change the craft of glassblowing.
Until the 1960’s glassblowing was primarily used by individuals who were limited to creating only small works and by factory manufactures who had resources to create large scale pieces but without much artistry. So when Littleton and Labino brought together small furnaces and the idea of collaboration, the Studio Glass Movement was born. Finally with the access to the right resources and artistry, glassblowing could become an art.
This new beginning of glassmaking as an art sparked the fine art glass program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1967, Chihuly studied under Littleton at the University and later went on to establish the Glass Program at the Rhode Island School of Design, and only two short years later, he, along with Anne Gould Hauberg and John H. Hauberg, started the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington.
Chihuly has gone on to travel the world studying, teaching and producing progressive and inspiring glass art installations. He is arguably the most influential artist of this medium in the world. He has been awarded nine honorary doctoral degrees, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, a Fulbright Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and his work can be found in over 200 museums worldwide.
“My work has relied on spontaneous combinations of fire, molten glass, air, centrifugal force, and gravity,” Chihuly explained. “I like to go in knowing what I am going to do, but sometimes it is fun not to know.”
DETAILS
Chihuly Collection 400 Beach Drive, St. Petersburg 727-896-4527 Mon – Wed, Fri – Sat: 10 am – 6 pm; Thur: 10 am – 8 pm; Sun: noon – 6 pm www.moreanartscenter.org/chihuly/ Glass Studio and Hot Shop 719 Central Ave., St. Petersburg 727-822-7872 Web RELATED LINKS TBT -Those Pieces Don’t Clean Themselves
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