AT ANCHOR

The scene is the central reflecting pool at our botanical garden, where angels made by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles charm us with their flutes. One of Chihuly's boats filled with an explosion of colored glass seems to have come to rest. It's called simply Fiori Boat, the first word being Italian for flowers.

The works seen in this series get oohs and ahs from the public. However, I once asked an artist acquaintance what he thought of Chihuly. His review was in two words: too easy. Something to think about.                  

SPIKES

A different style of Chihuly glass work in the botanical garden. Looks dangerous to me. The purple spikes grow from a pile of cleanly-sawn logs, as if in reaction to the destruction of a tree. Any other ideas?.            

GERM THEORY

Looking at a work of art often raises associations - that reminds me of something. This large piece called Vermilion and Canary Yellow Tower is at a major junction of paths in our botanical garden. It immediately made me think of a cartoon germ in a children's book, aggressive, threatening and scary. Lots of other reactions are possible, of course.           

BELOW AND BESIDE

To my great benefit, Mrs. C is often sharper at spotting things than I am. I was stumbling through the crowd inside the Climatron, eyes on the path, when she told me to look up. There seemed to be an explosion of ice worms inside the rigid frame of the geodesic dome. This wasn't the whole story, though. Several steps further on I looked back and saw this:

A side-on view of a chandelier. We hope it is well-secured.               

COLOR CARGO

One of Chihuly's repeated themes is brightly colored spheres in and around a small boat. This one is located in the Japanese garden area. It raises questions. Is it simply a static display or is going somewhere? What is the nature of the cargo? Why have some spheres spilled out? As with so much of art, these questions are up to the viewer.