Chihuly Nights; visiting the Atlanta Botanical Garden after dark

img_2378A few years ago, while we lived in Nashville, we went to an exhibit of Dale Chihuly’s work when it was at The Frist Museum.  It was a wonderful show and we really enjoyed looking at the colors and the shapes of the blown glass pieces.  At the same time, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, also in Nashville, was featuring a night time exhibit of additional works, but as luck would have it, we never made it out there.  When I went to Atlanta last month, I learned that the Atlanta Botanical Garden was featuring a night time exhibit and I made sure I did not miss it again!

img_7092Using my camera, I took pictures as we walked around the garden and how I wished I could have used my tripod to get better shots!  The glass works are pretty amazing in daylight but once the sun sets, the lights used in the displays give the glass a completely different appearance.  For one, the colors glow.

img_2380If you have ever visited ABG, you are familiar with the raised walkway that takes you high above the gardens.  In this area, the view was almost magical.

img_7101These white glass pieces almost look like balloons or torpedoes.  Because I was using my camera hand-held, it was hard to really get all of the details.

img_7104This looked like a giant succulent from above and below, it looked as if it was alive.

img_7106The reflection pool really captured the movement of the glass tubes.

img_7110While I could see the tiny blue lights up close, they got lost in the distance.  The entire area glowed orange, as if a campfire was nearby.

img_2382This was one of the exhibits that the camera just couldn’t handle.  Called a Fiori Boat, the large structure in the top pool was floating on the surface of the water with the large glass orbs, known as Niijima Floats.  In the background is the Earth Goddes Sculpture whose hand forms a waterfall.

img_2381Covered in moss and surrounded by water, she was an amazing sight in the dark.

img_7124Water lends itself well to the glass and many of the exhibits were in a water setting.  To really see the difference in the photos from the camera and my cell phone, compare this shot to the next one.

img_2383It would have taken me a lot of time to catch this look with the camera.

img_2385Looks like icicles to me.

img_7142As we prepared to leave, a final sculpture greeted us near the gift shop.  They look like blossoms to me!  Truly art imitating life-garden life to be specific.  Do yourself a favor, while you can visit during the day, buy a ticket to the show and go after dark.   The show closes at the end of the month, hurry, don’t miss it!

25 dates for 25 years

asa & yehosafat, 2000 by boaz vaadia
hard to believe but it is true none the less, the husband and i have been married for 25 years. i simply cannot believe that i am old enough to have been married for that many years. at least i don’t feel that old, one look in the mirror and i can see the proof. we had planned on taking a long weekend to lounge on the beach but the flood and all of the repairs to the house put an end to that plan. we have moved on to plan b; over the next year (our anniversary was 9/14 to 9/13 of 2011) we plan to do 25 things that we normally wouldn’t do as a means of celebrating. a celebratory bucket list of sorts and today we went on our first date.

dale chihuly is an amazing glass artist and there are two exhibits running simultaneously in nashville right now. there is an outdoor exhibit at cheekwood that has the option of visiting it after dark because it is all illuminated and the frist museum also has an exhibit of his work. to start the celebration, we went to the frist museum today. did you know that today was museum day? the smithsonium has a program that provides free tickets to selected museums all around the country and the frist was on the list. we would never have known about it if it wasn’t for ms. cheap’s column in the tennessean.
we walked through the exhibit and admired all of the glass and paintings too. there was a video of mr. chihuly teaching a master class and it showed how some of the pieces were created and it was amazing to watch. since we were in a museum, i couldn’t take pictures so be sure to click on the links to get an idea of what we saw. we rounded out the afternoon with a trip down 12 south for a cup of coffee at portland brew. be sure to visit here and see what we do to celebrate this long incarceration i mean marriage…