MFA, Chihuly and glass
This week, while I was in Boston to attend a training in health disparities at MGH, I found time to stop by the Museum of Fine Arts.
I'd just received the latest member mailing, and was curous about the upcoming show on ART GLASS by Dale Chihuly. I was so taken by the luscious colors and fantastical shapes on the cover and in the two-page photo inside the newsletter, that I skipped past the opening date for the show in the brochure.
So I showed my membership card at the entrance to the museum, and asked the guard for directions to "the new art glass installation." Turns out I wasn't alone in this conceit--the bemused guard told me that several other people had come in to see this new exhibit that wasn't even open yet.
Well, a visit to the MFA is rarely a wasted trip, so I decided to check out the conservation exhibit in the "Behind the Scenes" Galleries...but then I didn't realize that I would see one striking piece under construction as I passed through the three-story gallery and restaurant space.
There it was: one of the Chihuly's--a steel frame, truly three stories tall, into which two workers were carefully fitting 3-foot-long spikes of blown glass. The construct looked like an aloe tree, covered in those hand-blown glass pieces like aloe leaves, in tones of fresh yellow green.
The exhibit actually opens in early April. I'll definitely return later this spring. I want to see what other huge pieces appear.
I'd just received the latest member mailing, and was curous about the upcoming show on ART GLASS by Dale Chihuly. I was so taken by the luscious colors and fantastical shapes on the cover and in the two-page photo inside the newsletter, that I skipped past the opening date for the show in the brochure.
So I showed my membership card at the entrance to the museum, and asked the guard for directions to "the new art glass installation." Turns out I wasn't alone in this conceit--the bemused guard told me that several other people had come in to see this new exhibit that wasn't even open yet.
Well, a visit to the MFA is rarely a wasted trip, so I decided to check out the conservation exhibit in the "Behind the Scenes" Galleries...but then I didn't realize that I would see one striking piece under construction as I passed through the three-story gallery and restaurant space.
There it was: one of the Chihuly's--a steel frame, truly three stories tall, into which two workers were carefully fitting 3-foot-long spikes of blown glass. The construct looked like an aloe tree, covered in those hand-blown glass pieces like aloe leaves, in tones of fresh yellow green.
The exhibit actually opens in early April. I'll definitely return later this spring. I want to see what other huge pieces appear.