CHIHULY ILLUMINATED—

The day we visited the Columbus Museum of Art recently they were suffering a partial power failure.

The absence of lights is a significant problem when the title of your art show involves illumination.

Regardless, and to their great credit, officials there discounted admission cost to zero and welcomed visitors with a caution to travel gently through the dimly lit show.

Actually, I thought the conditions were a perfect way to display Dale Chihuly’s marvelous, mostly transparent or translucent art form.

Colorful glass, creatively backlit with theatrical-style lighting can offer viewers a powerful, visual experience, and, to a limited extent that was achieved by the museum under that day’s electrical challenges.

In the above photo Chihuly’s Glass Forest #3 was one of two stunning examples of his genius in glass. The pieces being illuminated from within in a dark setting made for a visually arresting experience.

The centerpiece of the show Mille Fiori (below) also survived the debacle of the power failure and teased the visual sense with 56 feet of a glowing, garden in glass.

I can only imagine the intense visual quality of this show if museum officials were to recognize the flavor of presenting all the pieces of this marvelous exhibition in totally dark settings lit with a genius similar to their creation...

...which, by the way is exactly how they are presented in the show’s brochure.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

CHIHULY IN GLASS--
One more peek

Saturday we conclude our visit to the Columbus area display of the world-class art work of Dave Chihuly with a story on our visit to that city’s museum of art.

Their show was entitled Chihuly Illuminated.

Except, illumination was limited on the day of our visit by a partial, power failure in the building.

Nevertheless, as you can see above, the creations of this master in glass can be truly arresting visual experiences regardless of the challenges of their display.

Please stop by.

WALKIN' IN THE WOODS

With a new camera lens...

Just splashes of color remain in Ohio's woods this time of year.

The evergreens are, well, ever green but the deciduous trees stand virtually naked as winter stalks our calendar.

The little spots of color remaining, however, are like scattered treasure waiting to be found by a beachcomber.

A tiny oak seedling (top) is proud of its colorful, adult-sized leaves which adorn its woody skeleton just a foot or so tall in the very basement of the under canopy while rays from a lazy sun paint the leaves with back-lit translucence.

The close-up (right) takes on an abstract life of its own and shares its strong geometric shapes in a pallet of highly muted colors. It's really a near-sighted view of the trunk of a towering Scotch Pine at eye level.

My old, everyday, walking-around Canon lens on the digital SLR camera failed recently so I replaced it with Canon's new 17-40mm, f/4 L model. They regard it as a super-wide angle at the top of their line.

Taking it for its first hike recently was like getting acquainted with a new friend.

Then, a day or so after the above material was posted to the queue for publication we took another walk around the woods and the image below made itself available.

This is another low angle view, this time of a young beech tree sapling loitering under the towering pines. It is waiting for the canopy to open so it, too, can grow into a towering adult. Meanwhile, it is content to smile at onlookers with its winter-long sprinkle of golden-tan leaves.

The woods certainly is an every-changing tapestry of visual delights.

ELEGANCE
IN GLASS—


For the next five months the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus will sparkle with the world-class, glass artistry of Dale Chihuly.

The conservatory is nestled on 88 acres of parkland just east of downtown and began its life in 1852 as the site of the county fair. By 1874 it was the site of the Ohio State Fair.

Inspired by the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 the city built its anchor, horticulture building there.

A glass and steel structure in the grand Victorian style, it was modeled after that world fair’s Glass Palace and remains today the signature structure of the conservatory—a fitting venue to display the creations of Chihuly; himself, a virtuoso in glass.

Sprinkled throughout this massive complex, its re-created desert, its rainforest, its courtyard—everywhere! you will discover artistry in glass like you have never seen it before.

Imagine all of the color possible in nature’s kaleidoscope presented for your pleasure in mass and shape and forms--some recognizable, some known only to the imagination of the artist, all capable of vibrating your visual sense to the core.

For more than 40 years the display of Chihuly’s mastery has spanned the globe from Venice to Jerusalem to New York to Luzerne.

“A dominant presence in the art world, Dale Chihuly and his work has long provoked considerable controversy as part of the art/craft debate. However, with exhibitions such as his recent show at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, (San Francisco) there can be little doubt that his lasting contribution to art of our times is an established fact,” explains Davira S. Taragin, Curator, The Detroit Institute of Arts.

The exhibition will remain at the conservatory until March 28, 2010.

Do yourself a favor.

The Franklin Park
Conservatory Presents

CHIHULY REIMAGINED

Visitors to the conservatory (above) wander through a “Cave” at their East Broad Street location in Columbus where the overhead sparkles with the back lighted works of glass done by world-class artist Dale Chihuly.

Please stop by Saturday when Fogeyisms will take you on a tour of this stunning display.

COLUMBUS ART SCENE—

In the current program Chihuly in Columbus, the city becomes the first major one ever to present Dale Chihuly’s works of glass art simultaneously at a conservatory and a museum.

An exhibition of his artwork at the Franklin Park Conservatory in 2003 and 2004 drew a record number of visitors. Most of the pieces were later purchased by the conservatory and is the largest collection owned by a conservatory or botanical garden.

That full collection was put on view once again in July 2009 at the conservatory along with new work by the artist in an exhibition entitled Chihuly Reimagined. This show anchors a two-part exhibition in Columbus along with a display at the Columbus Museum of Art entitled Chihuly Illuminated which opened in September.

Please stop by this weekend when Fogeyisms will first visit the exhibition at the conservatory to be followed by a story next weekend on the exhibit at the museum.

In the above photo, lady friend Sue Brooks enjoys a piece from Chihuly Illuminated at the museum earlier this month.

Visit: http://www.chihulyincolumbus.com/exhibitions.html for show dates.

THE HOCKHOCKING and
OLD MAN'S CAVE--
in a land of enchantment

Once again, thank you God!