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The day after hummingbird banding found me embarking on yet another road trip, this time to see something equally as colorful but completely different. My sister, Desiree, is a glass artist who primarily works with stained and fused glass, though she has an avid interest in all glass art. Desiree heard that the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix was hosting an exhibition called “The Nature of Glass” by Chihuly, a famous glass artist.

Apparently, I’ve been living under a rock because even though I’d never heard of him everyone else I talked to raved about his work. Intrigued, the three of us (Aunt Coralie, Desiree, and I) made arrangements for our visit to The Valley of the Sun. Quick aside—Phoenix recently officially shortened their slogan to just The Valley, since the sun part implied that Phoenix was hot (which it usually is). As if changing their slogan changes the weather!

So we shot up I-10 in my aunt’s Prius, which I got to drive—yay. I love cruising along and not worrying about fuel. It is one of our main concerns when driving our RV—not just finding gas stations but locating ones that can accommodate a 34’ long vehicle with a clearance over 12’3”. Of course there was construction (when isn’t there?) but overall the drive down to the valley was quick and uneventful. Notice I said down? Phoenix is roughly 100 miles north of Tucson so one could legitimately say “up” to Phoenix, but our lovely capital city is 1500’ lower in elevation than the Old Pueblo, so I am justified in saying “down.” I also say a lot of other things about Phoenix but few of them are appropriate for all audiences.

When we arrived at the Desert Botanical Garden a little after eleven all the parking lots were jam packed. We expected they would be busy on weekends but that crowded on a Tuesday? DBG is raking it in! Which is exactly what they were banking on. Chihuly’s exhibit, which has been on display since November and will remain through the end of May, is a pure moneymaker. For both DBG and Chihuly. In fact, in anticipation of large crowds, DBG required advance reservations for one of three admission times, 8 to noon, noon to 4, or 4 to 8. Since none of us were even remotely interested in trying to make it by 8 in the morning we selected the noon option. We did briefly discuss the later option since the sculptures are lit after dark, which would have been a neat perspective.

Our early arrival gave us time to read up on Dale Chihuly and his work. Born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941 Chihuly was into art from early on: he graduated with his first degree, interior design, in 1965, followed with an M.S. in sculpture in 1967 and a year later he travel to Venice to study glass on a Fulbright Scholarship. The diaphanous quality of glass seemingly entranced Chihuly and upon his return to the states he made it his lifework. In the early years Chihuly based his glass pieces on both Native American and natural designs, though it was the latter of the two that won him the most acclaim. Chihuly blew through the limits of traditional glass work and elevated the status of his glass sculptures from craftwork to artwork.

That change did not happen overnight nor was it merely based on his inventive, unusual work—Chihuly, by all accounts, is a persuasive and determined man. In a combination rarely seen in artists, his skill for self-promotion and dealmaking rival his ability to create art. Over the years Chihuly has evolved from an artist into a brand; he hasn’t blown glass since 1979. Instead he is at the helm of a multi-million dollar company which owns a large factory filled with craftsmen and contractors, and a storage room filled with blown glass. Chihuly describes his role thusly, “more choreographer than dancer, more supervisor than participant, more director than actor.” Obviously, there are detractors, how can it truly be his art when he more than likely never even saw the piece of glass? Though few, if any, dispute Chihuly’s contributions to the world of glass art.

As for myself, I am not a collector nor an art critic so I was content to wander the pathways at DBG and enjoy the view. According to their brochure, the planning for this installation took three years with Chihuly visiting the garden in 2007 to design the layout. A combination of old pieces, new works, and some modified ones were used to create twenty-one sculptures planted throughout the garden.

Our group had grown to five with the addition of Coralie’s friends, Larry and Mary Ann, who met us at the Garden. Apparently, we picked a great time of day to visit as two school buses full of children were just leaving. Don’t get me wrong, I like kids, just not so much when they are in large groups on a field trip. Like adults, kids can lose their manners when en masse. We attempted to follow the map on our brochure but quickly gave up on the idea and instead wandered randomly. It seemed like an appropriate approach since the glass sculptures were then a surprise.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but overall, the glass was astounding—the pieces were immense but delicate, they varied from multi-hued, to streaked, to spotted, to swirled and all were intensely vibrant, many imitated nature while some were directly inspired by civilization. I’ll be honest, there were definitely some pieces I did not like. I much preferred the flowing, simple pieces over his massive, ultra-hyper, frenzied tangles of glass. Of course, I was most attracted to the cobalt blue pieces. My sister said that in the glass industry they call it “cash flow blue.” If you want a piece to sell make it out of cobalt blue glass. Which in my mind raises the question, why? What is it about cobalt that attracts the attention of people the world over? I’ll leave you to ponder that one. If you have an explanation, I’d love to hear it!

Photos: View our photographs from Chihuly at Desert Botanical Gardens.

Dates: We visited the Chihuly exhibit at Desert Botanical Gardens on March 24th, 2009.