Chihuly in the Garden

On Friday afternoon, Chris and I met at the Desert Botanical Garden after work to see the Chihuly at the Garden exhibit.  We’d been meaning to go to the exhibit for the past few months, but since it ends in mid-May and we recently ran across a Groupon discount for the exhibit, we carpe diem’d that business and got ourselves to the DBG.

I visited the DBG a few years back on a team builder with work (we used to work within walking distance of the Garden), but this was Chris’ first experience there.  Since my new building is still much closer to the Garden than Chris’ work (plus he had to take time to go home and let out the kiddos), I beat him there by about an hour.  While I was waiting for him to arrive, I checked out the other special exhibit currently at the Garden, the Spring Butterfly Exhibit.  There’s an additional $3.50 charge for the butterfly house (in addition to the Garden’s normal entrance fee of $22 – or the Groupon price of $12!), but it’s well worth it.  Well, if you like butterflies.*

Orange slices...nomnomnomnom

After Chris made it to the Garden, we wandered for awhile, admiring the native plants, spring blooms, and of course, the Chihuly sculptures.  If you’re not familiar with Dale Chihuly’s name, chances are good you’ve seen his work somewhere.  He is an artist who specializes in sculptured glass, and we’ve (somewhat unwittingly) become aficionados of his work over the years.  I can’t remember when we started really enjoying Chihuly’s work, but I have no doubt who introduced us to him – I’m certain it was my Mom.

Some of Chihuly’s best known works are his blown glass flowers, and we’ve been lucky enough to stare with awe at them hooked to the ceiling of the lobby in the Bellagio, in Las Vegas.**

Ooh, pretty!

Chihuly mainly operates out of the Tacoma, WA area, and there’s a museum up that way that features his work.  One of the highlights is a pedestrian bridge with sculptures integrated into the bridge.  Mom and I were able to check out the museum and bridge when we visited the SeaTac area a few years back.

I have to admit to feeling like a real Chihuly fan when we were in London for Chris’ 30^th birthday trip five years back.  We scrounged and saved and booked a reservation at Claridge’s in Gordon Ramsay’s flagship restaurant.  The meal – of course – was astounding, but my proudest moment came when I asked our waiter about the stunning chandelier in the lobby of the lounge area of the hotel.  I turned to Chris and said something along the lines of “betting it was a Chihuly.”  Sure enough, the concierge (summoned by our waiter) gave us the backstory of the chandelier, and it was indeed a Chihuly.  Consider me firmly impressed by myself!***

Not our picture...from the interwebs.

We have a picture, but ours is horrible.

Anywhoo, back to the DBG.  The sculptures are integrated right into the planting areas with the native plants, which I think is pretty neat.  Some folks seem to feel that the sculptures overshadow the plants, which I guess is a valid argument, since they really draw your eye.  However, I’d counter that the plants are almost the background to the sculptures, which are intended to be the focal points.  Either way, behold the pretty:

The DBG has a few times each day for viewing the sculptures (8am-noon, noon-4pm, and 4pm-8pm); we selected the final viewing because it was after our work day, but also because we were hoping the Garden would turn on the lights later in the evening, so we could see the sculptures both in the natural and artificial light.  They did, but my pictures from the nighttime are horrible.  Sorry.  

Grab your glowstick - it's rave night at the Garden.

(cue thumping bass)

Back to the daytime, and some better pics:

We correctly figured we wouldn't need a full four hours to see the sculptures (the DBG is decent sized, but it’s not massive), so we also made dinner reservations at the on-site restaurant, Gertrude’s.  It’s a great spot focusing on farm to table dining with some awesome food.  I had the pasta of the moment, a handmade fettuccine with puttanesca sauce, and Chris had a trio of pork.  All was delicious!

More Chihuly:

As you can see from the pictures, the Chihuly sculptures are amazing, no doubt.  I have to admit, though, that my favorite part of wandering the Garden was seeing all of our native AZ animals just roaming around, enjoying the evening amidst the beauty that is springtime in the desert.

Quail.  A bit less panicky than normal.

Ground squirrel.

Saguaro blossoms.

I love it when the saguaros do this -

it looks like a crown of flowers way up on top of the cactus.

Groucho Marx bunny has dirty face.

Look closely - there's a hummingbird in the middle of this pic.

Just a stick.  Just a stick.

Go home, bee.  You're drunk on pollen.

Cactus wren.

Overall, it was a lovely evening!  If you want to check out the DBG on your own, I highly recommend doing so.  The Chihuly exhibit is there through May 18^th or so, but the Gardens are beautiful any time of the year.  Head to www.dbg.org for more info.

Later!

Amy

* A friend of mine at work is totally freaked out by butterflies and moths, and we tease her pretty endlessly about it.  She’s taken to sending us pictures of butterflies/moths without their wings (from scientific illustrations – she doesn’t catch them, then rip their wings off – yet) and asking us if we would allow these creepy things to land on us.  We all have our things, right?

** In fact, the last time we were in Vegas, we headed through the Bellagio lobby to the atrium (which we always do for the beautiful free garden displays), and I noticed a sign stating that Dale Chihuly himself was going to be greeting visitors later that afternoon.  I thought about standing in line, only to realize I would get to meet him, go, “your glass is soooo pretty,” and then walk away.  It didn’t seem worth the hours of waiting.

*** As we all should be from time to time.  Not too much, though.  That would get old pretty quickly for the people around us.