As many of my regional readers know,
Denver Botanic Gardens has been hosting an exhibit of sculptural glass installations by renowned Seattle artist
Dale Chihuly since June. I was fortunate to visit the gardens several times over the past few months and enjoyed seeing the juxtaposition of the vibrantly colored, hard and shiny glass forms within a variety of ever-changing garden settings.
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| June |
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| November |
Red Reeds, above, features some of the longest hand-blown glass elements Chihuly and his studio team create. I like the sharp contrast of the red on green colors, while the vertical reed forms harmonize with those of the grasses in the Porter Plains Garden.
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| June |
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| November |
This sculpture is one of my favorites. The chunky, ice cube shapes are very different from the more linear or round forms that Chihuly so often works with, yet they retain an organic sensibility. The blue color added to the sense of coolness in the middle of a hot, dry garden full of plants with small, gray-green foliage. In the autumn photo the piece is set off nicely by the bright orange foliage of an oak tree.
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| June |
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| November |
Same installation, different view. The rustic rowboat full of colorful, shiny balls is just plain fun, Unfortunately, the entire lily pond was packed with different installations all vying for the visitor's eye. And on the other side of the spruce trees — in the Japanese Garden — yet another rowboat full of baubles. Hmmmm . . . sometimes more is just more.
A few of my favorites:
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| blue on blue |
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| even the bees love it! |
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| the ripples in the glass match the flow of water against the back wall |
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| wonderful color echos in the autumn garden! |
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| love the color / form match with contrasting texture. lively and elegant at the same time |
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| Aconitum in the autumn sun |
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| Summer Sun, composed of 1,901 individual glass elements |
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| can't wait to explore the new science pyramid! |
This exhibition was over five years in the making, and I think the attention to detail in siting the glass installations in the gardens resulted in some wonderful vignettes — through the seasons — that are truly memorable!
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| Brian Vogt, CEO of Denver Botanic Gardens, with Dale Chihuly |
The exhibit continues through November 30th. Don't miss it!
All photos copyright Jocelyn H. Chilvers, 2014
