Like a magpie, I love anything sparkly which definitely includes glass and our day out to Kew was so exciting, I had to share!
Dale Chihuly is possibly the most famous artist working in contemporary glass today and together with his team in Seattle, produces a range of beautiful glass.
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery was our first stop, where a film explained about Chihuly’s life and working methods and how his work has evolved over the last 50 years.
A stunning collection of smaller pieces were on display here including Baskets inspired by the slumped shape of Northwest Coast Indian baskets …
… Rotolo which unsurprisingly means coil in Italian …
… pieces from a series called Macchia which means spotted in Italian …
… and Cylinder vases with decoration inspired by designs on Navajo blankets.
I want my work to appear like it came from nature, so that if someone found it on a beach or in the forest they might think it belonged there. Dale Chihuly
So with that in mind we explored the gardens, firstly with the free tour then again on our own and the sun occasionally came from behind a cloud and lit up the glass. We were so impressed with the glass sculptures especially the showstoppers like Sapphire Star …
… Summer Sun …
… Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower …
… and Lime Tower, all constructed a little like an artificial Xmas tree with up to 1800 glass pieces fitted onto a metal core.
There were others that seemed to be growing out of the ground like the Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins in the Mediterranean Garden …
…the Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds within the long grass of an orchard …
… and Paintbrushes, inspired by the plant called Indian Paintbrush that we saw growing in Utah.
Glass was also installed in the conservatories with the very beautiful Ethereal White Persian Pond in the centre of the Waterlily House.
The newly restored Temperate House had Opal and Amber Towers flanking the entrance …
… and Persian Column suspended from the roof …
… and climbing the wrought iron spiral staircase to the balcony gave an opportunity for a close up.
There were also smaller pieces within the planting …
… and a final chandelier on the way out.
We were so inspired by our visit that we exchanged our tickets for a year’s membership … which is lucky, as when we got home we realised we had missed one of the exhibits called Nijima Floats … a treat for next time!
We made a return visit when the glass was lit up at night and Chris took these great pics …
… and this time we saw the floats!
Off Travelling Together 