Glass Magic

I finally had an opportunity to view the extraordinary work of Dale Chihuly at the Museum of Fine Arts exhibition Through the Looking Glass. As expected, the pieces were spectacular. With the bright hues of glass, psychedelic lighting, and a rich diversity of ideas, it was a breathtaking experience. 

This splendidly illuminated array of large glass flowers, which I put together into a panoramic shot, adorned the entrance to the exhibit:

The dark hall inside was aglow with a red chandelier that showed us the way to the magnificent Ikebana boat. When Chihuly was in Finland in 1995, in a moment of artistic whimsy, he once cast some of his glass artwork into the waters of a local river. While some local teenagers fished the glass pieces and loaded them onto their boats, Chihuly conceived the idea behind this masterpiece.

An assortment of baskets, woven or glass-blown, were on display next. The glistening, golden Tabac baskets, with the larger ones housing the littler ones, were so sheer and delicate, that I found them particularly fascinating.

The next exhibit, and probably the most beautiful one, was the Mille Fiori or the thousand flowers. Every one of those thousand flowers was gorgeous in its own unique way - radiant, curvaceous, and luxuriant, with its distinct texture and hue. I found myself going round and round the hall as every new location and every new angle was a fresh new treat to my eyes (and my camera).

Persian ceilings adorned the next room. Fascinating floral forms (rondels) with diverse shapes and colors smiled down upon us.

We then entered the hall with the chandeliers, ranging from 3 to 30 ft in height, some of them made up of as many as a thousand individual glass pieces!

In the next and final chamber, the lofty Neodymium reeds, resplendent in a ghostly shade of purple, emerged upright from a casually strewn collection of dull, lifeless logs. The reeds provided a perfect, psychedelic ending to a glorious adventure!