Glass and Lights.

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 A couple of months ago we went to the Chihuly exhibition down at the Botanic Gardens.  Chihuly is a glass artist who specialises in large outdoor installations and manages a whole team of glass blowers, twirlers, and general glass-manipulators who help bring his visions to fruition.  Having seen it all in the daylight we waited until the weather was nice and went back to see it at night.

So did a whole heap of other people.

 We tried turning up twice, in fact, and then we gave in and bought tickets like sensible people.  Like everyone else we cracked two laps of the park: once to see everything and then a repeat to see it when it was properly dark.  I won't say too much more, I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

Iceberg in the lotus garden. It wasn't glass either: some type of resin or plastic instead.


This was the most recognisable piece given it was on posters everywhere in town advertising the exhibition.

 

 

As darkness fell the exhibitions came to life, glowing with light from strategically placed spotlights.  Fantastical glass flowers bloomed inside the tropical hothouse.

 

"Inspired by frog feet" said the explanatory sign.  Nope, to me these were weird gelatinous aliens reaching out to invade.
My favourite, the interplay of foliage and glass is pleasing.

 

 

Night and day.

Place an art installation in a pond and the birds will come... ducks and swamp hens made themselves at home here for the night.

 

It reminded me of a bonfire.  Kinda.
Finale.

 Having worn ourselves out walking around the garden and with pumpkin o'clock fast approaching, we unlocked our bicycles and headed for home, finding some unexpected lights under a bridge along the way.

Bridge with rainbow lights and sleeping person.

Adelaide Oval provided the final lights display, along with a roar of excitement from the crowd inside. 

 A lot of people were getting very excited by some event which had entirely escaped my notice.        

If Chihuly comes to your town, I'd recommend it.  Especially at night.



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