Gardens of Glass: Chihuly at Kew by Dale Chihuly. Glass, exhibited May 28, 2005 through January 15, 2006.

Well today I reached into my big bag of art and decided to pull out a favorite artist of mine, Dale Chihuly. (I guess he was in the bag with the art.) Sorry, I'll try not to use an introduction as pathetic as this again. And it's sad that this introduction should be so pathetic, because Dale Chihuly is so totally awesome. Why is he so cool? Many reasons. First, he is from Tacoma, Washington. (Still lives there, I believe.) Second, he wears an eyepatch. (He lost vision in one eye in a car accident. Even if you'd lost your vision in one eye, would you have the guts to wear an eyepatch? I doubt it.) And third, he works with glass. He also has a great last name. I wish my last name was Chihuly. If you're curious about the pronunciation, it's "chi" as in chip, "hu" as in hula, and "ly" as in manly. Don't know why those words were the first examples to come to mind, but there you go.

I would like to go completely crazy with this post and show you everything Dale Chihuly has ever made. Instead, I'm going to restrain myself and focus on Gardens of Glass, an installation he did at Kew Gardens last year. That way, I can still pull out multiple photos and give you a better idea of the scope of his work. Kew Gardens (or Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew) is located in Richmond, England, about ten miles from London. Chihuly designed a number of pieces for Kew, meant to compliment the surrounding plant life. All of Chihuly's work is very organic, which lets it blend into the gardens well. With some of his work, the only way to tell you're looking at glass and not a living plant is by the color. Chihuly uses really vibrant colors - they remind me of stained glass windows.

That first photo I posted is of Herons. Below is Thames Skiff.















It's really thanks to Chihuly's work that glassblowing is accepted as a museum art today. There's always been a big debate as to whether glassblowing should be categorized as an art or a craft, but Chihuly's work has been displayed in dozens of art museums. And since he's an American artist, you can currently find his work in 42 of the 50 states. (Apologies to Alaska, Idaho, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. I guess your states suck.) To locate the Chihuly exhibit nearest to you, go here.

Below is Walla Wallas (they're the bulbs floating in the background). Walla Wallas are actually a kind of sweet onion that's really popular in the Pacific Northwest. Walla Walla onion rings = delicious.















Next up is The Sun, followed by a detail shot that really lets you see the texture of the glass.



















To see more of Dale Chihuly's work, I highly recommend you check out his awesome website, which has hundreds of photos of his stuff. His site also has a lot of great videos, including one on his exhibit at the Kew. There isn't much dialogue, but you hear a little bit from Chihuly on why he chose the project, and you get to see some great shots of the gardens. You also get to see him and his awesome eyepatch.















Is that not amazing? It's so easy to enjoy Chihuly's work. You don't need to know his personal philosophy or spend a few hours trying to figure out just what it is that you're looking at and what it means. The first art exhibit I ever went to was of Dale Chihuly, and I don't remember thinking much except, "Oooh, look at the pretty colors." That was about a year ago. Ha! Just kidding. Though when I look at Chihuly's stuff now, that's still pretty much the first thought that runs through my mind.

Finally, I want to give a quick thanks to Simon Bisson, this dude who posted his photos on Flickr with a Creative Commons license. All of the pictures I've used today are his, because he was kind enough to share his photos with the world. You go, Simon. To see more of his photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbisson/. And for more info on Creative Commons, visit www.creativecommons.org. Remember, kids, sharing makes the world a better place.