And the angels sang....

Preface:  This was going to be the last of the posts on our trip to the Pacific Nortwest, however, one of my friends is having knee surgery so thought I would give her something to look at and take her mind off the supid exercises they make you do.  Marge, hope these beauties help make you feel better, if even for a moment.  Can't bring Mike dinner or come and sit with you, but hopefully you will see this while recuperating. 

If you look closely you can barely see a person on the right side about 1/2 way up the slope.  That will give you and indication of how large these works are.

I thought I was prepared to see some gorgeous artwork.  I was wrong.  The first indication of masterful glasswork was when I heard the angels singing....I am only showing your photographs of Chihuly Gardens, I am not in anyway showing you what we saw.  The best photographer in the world could not capture the emotion of walking around a corner and seeing this:

The room was totally dark except for the lighting on the glass.  Breathtaking

I am 5'4" and my camera was held at eye level if that gives you a feel for how large these sculptures are.

Not all of Dale Chihuly's glass is as massive as the opening piece.  These were two to three feet or high. 

WHITE VENETIANS

 
"WHITE VENETIANS:  In the summer of 1988, Chuhily embarked on a series inspired by Art Deco Venetian glass.  Working with the Italian glass master Leno Tagliapietra, Chihuly originally sought to replicate Venetian glass of the 1920s; however, this soon turned into a study of historical references combined with American experimentation.  For the first time, Chihuly used additive elements to embellish his blown glass works.  Additions referencing Classical Etruscan handles, elaborate Baroque detailing, and elegant Rococo features were magnified by Chihuly's tendency towards exuberance, as he consistently pushed the boundaries of scale, ornamentation, and technical complexity.

In 2010, continuing as always to experiment with color, Chihuly made a number of Venetians solely in variations of white:  opaque, translucent and alabaster.  The nuance of color in the White Venetians accentuates the forms and highlights both the complexity and the individuality of these works."

A-M-A-Z-I--N-G

What you are seeing above is what I saw above - above my head  as the ceiling of a room about the size of my master bedroom.  Nothing in the room except silent people sitting or lying on the floor staring at these magnificent pieces of work..

"DRAWING WALLS:  After losing sight in his left eye and dislocating his shoulder, Chihuly relinquished the gaffer position and began drawing as a way to communicate his vision and designs to his team.  The drawings evolved beyond a communication tool to become an important part of his expression. 

With his Burned Drawings, Chihuly explores color and texture in new ways.  He draws on heavyweight watercolor paper with acrylics, dry metallic pigment, charcoal and graphite and even burns the paper surface with an acetylene torch.  These drawings are gestural and full of energy with subtle colors and rich texture.

Chihuly's first Drawing Wall was presented to the public in 1992 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.  Chihuly has explained, "Drawing really helps me to think about things.  I'm able to draw and work with a lot of color and that inspires me.""

Eyes rested?  On to more brilliance then.....

As you can see, even the inside of the bowls are beautiful.

"MACCHIA FOREST:  Chihuly began the Macchia series in 1981 with the desire to use all 300 colors available to him in the hotshop, and named it such after asking his friend Italo Scanga the word for "spot" in Italian.  Thinking about the colors and the intensity of stained glass windows, Chihuly realized the glass panes looked more clear and vibrant against a cloudy sky than a blue one.  This idea inspired his experimentation to separate the interior and exterior colors by adding a white layer in between, a "cloud" and as he master the technical complexities, pused the scale up to 4 feet in diameter.

Each work is speckled with color, which come from rolling the molten glass in small shards of colored glass during the blowing process.  To complete the piece, he adds a lip wrap of a contrasting color. "

Doesn't everyone's garden look like this?  Again a huge long garden, easily as long as from my front door to my back door (which goes by 5 rooms).

and a bit of detail....

Chandeliers hanging outside above a walkway.....

Chandeliers hanging inside above our heads....

And a couple with details

Neck getting a crick from looking up so much?  Take a couple of minutes for these smaller pieces sitting on a table.

Whew....let's go outside and get some fresh air!  But first we have to go through the glasshouse.

Pat overheard another visitor telling her friend that someone she knew held their wedding in the glasshouse...wow, how beautiful that wedding would have been.

As if we haven't seen enough inside....

These three structures are 15-30 feet tall.

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. Luther Burbank

God and Chihuly worked together to make these gardens beautiful and to prove Luther Burbank correct.

No whispers heard, just the angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus.