Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Hale-Chihuly-jah!

Mille Fiore by Dale Chihuly at the new Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg. Photo courtesy of ILoveTheBurg.com (Downtown St. Pete on Facebook).

Dale Chihuly's gargantuan glass sculptures explode with color -- and the Tampa Bay area is now home to the only permanent installation of Chihuly works in the world (see more photos on ILoveTheBurg.com). The Chihuly collection, part of the Morean Arts Center, opened this past weekend at 400 Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg with appropriate pomp and ceremony, but without Dale Chihuly. The artist, recovering from some minor surgery, couldn't attend. Architect Albert Alfonso, who designed the building to frame his friend's room-size glass art, cut the ribbon in Chihuly's place.

Some people want to go beyond just the visual experience of glass. They want to know how the glass was formed, what techniques were used, the chemistry and physics behind it. Some even want to know how it feels to gather a glob of molten sand on the end of a long rod and tease it into a life of form and color all its own.

For such people as these, another facet of the Morean foray into glass opened last week. The Hot Shop, located next to the Glass Studio at the Center's 719 Central Avenue location, celebrated its arrival with glassblowing demonstrations, a street festival, and an open house at the Morean Arts Center. The Hot Shop features bleacher seating in the performance studio. Local glass artists provide running commentary on the glassblowing process as they work their magic.




Creative Loafing sees the Chihuly Collection and the new hotshop as "a foundation for the launch of St. Pete's nascent glass community," noting the number of glass artists making their way to this area.

Want to give glass blowing a try? That's what the Hot Shop is all about -- and the Tampa Bay area is richer for having both the Hot Shop and the Chihuly Collection here.

P.S. The glass artist in the slide show is Christian Zvonik. The raw glass artists (professional sand sculpture artists) are Treasure Island's Meredith Corson and Dan Doubleday aka Sanding Ovations.

(Slide show photos by Anne W. Anderson)

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