A Double Dose of Chihuly!

While in Seattle for the NAEA convention, I had two Chihuly experiences.

I registered early to the convention and scored a coveted ticket to a tour of the Chihuly Boathouse.  The Boathouse is his working studio, and is not open to the public, so this was a special opportunity.  We watched as some of the glass workers created a "Persian", a piece for an upcoming ceiling installation.

And we toured the rest of the facility, which included a swimming pool with Chihuly glass structures under the water.  Chihuly himself swims in this pool, which was incredibly inviting!

There's also an aquarium room, with fish swimming in an aquarium filled with Chihuly glass structures.

And a room made of tin. 

And much more.  Despite the bus driver getting lost on the way there (how does that happen, in this age of GPS?), it was still a fabulous opportunity.  By the way, the bus driver didn't exactly SAY he got lost, but it took 45 minutes to get there.  My map app said it was an 8 minute drive, and the bus driver said it would take 15 minutes in the bus, so 45 minutes was a bit excessive!  We seemingly drove in circles, pulled into a parking lot and did about a 40 point turn to turn around, went back the other way, and drove in more circles...  On the way back, we skipped the bus and took a Lyft to tour the Theo Chocolate Factory (and sampled lots of chocolate), and then took another Lyft back to the hotel, and it was a much easier trip.

Then, a couple of days later, we went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass, an indoor and outdoor museum/installation of his work.

As it turns out, many of the pieces were very familiar to me, from a visit to the Boston MFA (Museum of Fine Arts) in 2011.  The Seattle installation opened a year later, so I believe I'm correct when I say that some of these are the same pieces I saw in Seattle.   I posted about the Boston MFA visit in a post you'll find HERE.

 This past July, I saw a Chihuly exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, and I posted about it HERE.  I've also posted about a Chihuly tower my students made in my former classroom, HERE, and HERE.