Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Falling Leaves and a Glass Garden

Design - "November Twirls"
Designer - Bent Creek
Fabric - 28 count Country French Cafe linen
Fibers - GAST & WDW - 2 strands over 2 threads
Started - 16 November 2012
Completed - 19 November 2012

A nice commemoration of Autumn!

Back in late September my Mom took a trip to Seattle, WA and visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit at the Seattle Center. I looked at her photos and thought, "Wow!  I have to share them." 
If you are like me, as a gardener and / or stitchers you are mad about color."

Dale Chihuly is an amazing glass artist who resides in Tacoma, WA.  You can read more about him here. For this exhibition, much of Chihuly's inspiration came from the colors and patterns used in another Pacific NW tradition - Pendleton blankets.  You can read more about the history of Pendleton blankets here.

The exhibit is in three parts.  Outside there is "The Garden"...

Love this so much!

And this too - the contrasting vertical glass with the long horizontal fallen log.  So cool.

A second part of the exhibit includes "The Glass House" (i.e. The green houses used in Great English Gardens).

This is an amazing installation.  The upper left shows the entire piece - a study of the ocean and its residents.  The other photos in the collage are close-ups of a fish, a shell, a starfish, and another shell. 

This is a wooden boat filled with Niijima-type Floats.
Back in the 1950's and earlier, along the coast, large green Japanese fishing floats used to wash ashore after a big storm.  We are lucky and have one.  

This boat is full of Ikebana inspired pieces.

The third part of the exhibition is in "The Exhibition Hall".

It is an almost overwhelming sight of color and form. 

The neatest thing is that the exhibition is open day and night.  It can be viewed both ways.  The glass pieces are very different in natural light than in staged light.  For example, this is the same glass piece shown in the daylight earlier in my post - just below the photo of the Pendleton blankets.  If you are in the Seattle area - GO!  SEE!  ENJOY! 

8 comments:

Margaret said...

My DD went to see that exhibit when she was in Washington visiting a friend. I was so envious. I love Dale Chihuly!

cucki said...

wow very beautiful garden and very unique..
sweet stitching x

Ann at Beadlework. said...

Thanks for sharing this, it's amazing.

carol fun said...

Thanks for sharing - I love Dale Chihuly's work -- and this is a fabulous installation. I'd love to see this in person.


Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Barb said...

Love the leaves finish. Great job on it.

Barb said...

Jim and I went to see the King Tut exhibit. That was the first time we saw the garden. It was a very dreary day. I wonder if it would be prettier in the sun. We are planning another trip over to the city soon to see that exhibit. From what we could see, it looked amazing

Chris said...

Happy Thanksgiving Beth!
I am hoping to see the Chihuly exhibit in Richmond this weekend.

Melanie said...

So awesome!!!
I've seen a few random installations of his at various places, like the Bellagio and Mohegan Sun, but it must be really impressive to see so much of it all in one place. Just another reason to try and visit Seattle one day. :)