Friday, September 4, 2009

If I could have 3 wishes, 1 would be to become a Chihuly sculpture...












One magic wish to become a Chihuly sculpture may seem very silly or strange, but I love what they do to capture light and how they change the environment that they are in. The sculptures are made with fire and with lots of creativity on the part of the master glassblowers. They are pieces of beautiful glass that are the result of pushing the glass making processes to their limits and the results are something that echo natural shapes. Here is a small showing of my recent visit to the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, OH. This is End of Day, a tower sculpture made of individually blown pieces of glass that are assembled on an armature. I could see standing this tall in the rain forest and looking down and around at the plants and animals that live there.





Or...I could be an Ikebana, tall and elegant standing to the side of the garden with my one striking blossom rising high into the air on a beautiful line of stem. Like the prima dona balllerina in a seductive ballet, stretching myself out forming an elastic line of me.

















OrTorchier,looking everything like flames on stems floating in a pond with the Koi, dancing in the water and admiring my reflection.




How show stopping is this? A traditional venue, but gleaming with the interior light from 300 different colors of glass. Macchia, made by rolling the hot blob of glass in small pieces of colored glass and then incorporating it through the heating processes. When the glass is taken out the final time, the glass blower spins it until it becomes thinner and thinner and when the spinning slows down, the thin disc of glass starts to fall into the center and forms the shape of a blossom, sea shell, bell...lovely. It's like spinning in your favorite dress; when you stop you end up with a captured moment of the whirl of color and headiness.


Let's talk about blue...mmmm, I could love spending my days reflecting all the hues that blue is. It changes from radiant to soft and then flat to curvaceous. Blue is elusive and can be very bewitching. It is the color of sky and water, but only when seen at a distance. Very few things in the natural world are blue and it is a rare gem.


Blue Reeds and Marlins, stands alongside a two hundred year old hollow white oak tree as if they were peers. These are made by two glassblowers, one that is raised up on a lift as he blows the form and another glassblower pulls the glass down from above. I could stand all day with such company as this tree with my feet in the soft grass. I would have a special caretaker who would come each day to clean and keep me from falling over. He knows that I am stately, yet fragile and that I need protection. I would give back my thanks by showing how much blue can change with however the light strikes me.


Make me into a boat floating on a sea of green, filled with the creatures of the ocean inside, colored with the deepest blue and purples as in an Oriental rug or stream dyed silk...I would carry the watery forms as the boat of Wiken, Blinken and Nod carried them off to the land of dreams. Off I would sail into other gardens,through the different seasons where I could show how beautiful the imagination can be.

All sculptures are copyrighted as are all photos of the Chihuly works. These works are part of Chihuly Reimagned, first of two major exhibition's celebrating the artist's work in Columbus, Ohio.

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