Downtown Seattle is such an amazing place any time of the year. Since we’ve moved away we only get to go back in visit one to two times per year now. Over the 2016 Christmas break we have been staying family in Seattle and made plans to do some sight seeing while there. It’s funny that in the 4 years we lived in Seattle we never had been up to the Space Needle or walked around as tourists. But this time, we really wanted to do all that and leave the kids at home with Grandma and Grandpa.
I’ll leave the Space Needle and the Great Wheel of Seattle for another post, and just focus on the other highlight of our day. We went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Tour.
A little background information on this before we dive into the photos. Dave Chihuly is an American glass sculptor. His works are considered unique to the field of blown glass. His largest permanent exhibit can be found at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Through out the 1970s, influenced by the great glassblowing tradition of Murano, Chihuly experimented with the team approach to glassblowing. Working with a team of master glassblowers and assistants ha enabled him to produce architectural glass art of a scale and quantity unimaginable working alone. (Credit Wikipedia)
The Chihuly Garden and Glass is actually right next to the Space Needle. We were able to purchase our tickets together for a lower price since we wanted to see both. As you enter the exhibit, you start in a room with Navajo Blankets, then make your way into a very dark room, which starts with the first of many glass pieces. It was just stunning! Every setup had something unique and different to it. Most of it seemed that the inspiration was from the sea, or from plants and gardens.
There were amazing chandeliers that hung from the ceilings, boats filled with all glass balls of different patterns and colors. My favorite room where you could look through the ceiling to see the pieces of glass that lay on a single clear sheet so that they were lit up with light behind them. (First Image)
The room after that, was a very dark room with a long centerpiece filled with the most amazing colors! It looked like it was something from the ocean floor with all the spectacular shapes and colors. Every four feet the colors and shapes would change slightly so that it was interesting the whole way around.
There was also an outdoor garden that showcased more of his beautiful work. I really loved how everything was separated by colors, it just made more sense that way. And every now and again there would be a very large centerpiece that really stood out from the rest. What beautiful work! I am so very glad I brought my camera! I was in love with all the colors, shapes and designs.
Here are just a few of the images I was able to capture during the tour:
All in all I highly recommend this to anyone wanting to visit a beautiful exhibit and learn more about the works of Dale Chihuly. I hope to see some of his great works in Vegas when I am there this year!
Here are some tips I personally recommend:
Buy your ticket together with the Space Needle (You’ll get a better rate)
Visit during the day or night, both are beautiful.
Opt to leave your kids with a sitter so you can enjoy the slow pace and really take it in.
Bring your camera for sure!
Don’t use your flash. Try increasing your ISO settings and if you have a prime lens that opens up very wide (anywhere from f/1.4 to f/2.8) you will get better photos.
Stay around and watch the education movie clips at the end, very interesting.
Check out the gift shop, lots of beautiful things in there.
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