Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Dream a Little Dream...

Ever since I was about, oh, 14, I have wanted to learn how to blow glass. Not just a passing, "Cool, dude!" but a deep burning.

And it has been simmering ever since. Every time I see a documentary, a studio, a piece of glass, I feel this certain tug in my gut. There are few things that make me feel like that...blowing glass...Ireland...travleing...Taco Bell...

Anyways, a few years ago, I had the pleasure to catch a documentary on Chihuly (if you haven't seen him in action, you're missing a masterpiece.) He was in Italy, and decided to blow these big (2-3 ft wide) colorful glass balls and just toss them into them into the canals in Venice.



Fascinating!

During the past decade, I have been able to learn a lot about art, mainly pottery. In the past few years, I have even been able to squeeze in some cool stuff about glass, mainly fusing.

But that's fusing, not blowing. And let's not get dirty here. This it art, people. Serious stuff.

The one person I have found in the past three years who taught glass blowing taught it when I didn't (really didn't) have the time or the money. When I ran into him last month, he no longer teaches his workshop. No time. *Expletive*

Small town Texas...sigh...

Anyhoo...back to Chihuly-hoo!

Last month I went to visit the parents in OKC. Great visit! We ate at the OKC Museum of Art on my last day there, on the way to the airport (great food, btw), when I happened to see that they have the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly glass in the world. And I missed it.

So I went back last week. To see Chihuly. And my parents (of course.)

It was incredible, to say the least. I knew it would be. I just didn't know it would be so overwhelming. And emotional, really.

Now I need to learn to blow glass. I walked into Chihuly's world. There is no turning back.

These only show a teeny tiny bit of the wonder, but here are a few of the many pictures I took on my walk through the exhibit...




























2 comments:

Christy Z said...

That glass tower was just breathtaking. I have no idea the time or the patience that it took to build that!

Unknown said...

AMAZING...AMAZING WOW WOW WOW!~KERRIE