In creating a space to exhibit the celebrated glass works of sculptor Dale Chihuly, the designers clearly thought the living garden should delight visitors in its own right while functioning as the setting for magnificent artwork.Photo: Chihuly Garden and Glass
At Chihuly Garden and Glass, which is next to Seattle’s Space Needle, the exhibition of amazing glass sculpture is the star of the show, but the garden makes it onto the marquee for a reason. The Garden and “the Glass House” make up the attraction – a long-term exhibition featuring the work of Dale Chihuly – and hundreds of living plants are cultivated alongside the glass creations.
The Chihuly Garden and Glass website has all the information you need if you’re able to visit.
The Garden is “anchored by four monumental sculptures,” the website says, and the paths lined with trees, plants and flowers create “a rich backdrop for the art.”
One of the garden’s ‘anchor’ sculptures, The Sun, looks down on the landscape and artwork at Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle.Photo: Chihuly Garden and Glass
For three of the four sculptures, the Crystal, Icicle Towers and Reeds on Logs, the landscape setting features crimson camellias, scarlet daylilies, dogwoods, hardy fuchsias and handkerchief trees, among other plants.
At the center of it all, on a bed of black mondo grass, is the fourth sculpture, the Sun, an explosion of yellow and orange.
In addition to its ongoing exhibitions and special programs, Chihuly Garden and Glass occasionally announces a short-run “pop-up installation.” The latest, which runs through Nov. 14, is a group of Chihuly pieces titled White Venetians, a series of works that began in 1988.
