Of Babies, Glass and Impressionists

Friday morning, mom, Joss and I went to the Chihuly exhibit at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. I'd been reading up on him at home, but I was still blown away by the glass in person. For one thing, the pieces are huge. The strange candy-flower thing at right is larger than a serving plate. There are vase-type structures as tall as people (he calls them ikebanas for the japanese flower arranging tradition). For another, the arrangements are impressive -- just huge numbers of pieces all suspended, arranged in boats or standing up, or over a glass ceiling. Finally, they really exploit their medium well. My favorite of the venetians (another arbitrary designation that is a collection of vase-structures) has two little golden putti on it which are just delightful in glass (below).

One of the questions I'd had after reading about Chihuly was what he actually does, and why all of this work is named after him. He was once a glassblower, but after he lost his eye and then dislocated his shoulder, he was unable to do it any more. So he didn't make any of these pieces. And because of the nature of the process, he didn't really design them either. He may have said, 'make a venetian and stick a putto or two on it' but he really doesn't get too specific. Mom bought a video of him which we watched when we got home, and he mostly scribbles with a handful of pencils, or stands there like a great presiding pirate. If we're being generous, maybe he was a great teacher. If not, then he's getting a lot of credit for hanging out with glass blowers. Maybe he's good at getting grants and money?
We talked to a charming Italian and his daughter in the exhibit who told us his favorite gelato shop in Florence (I'll be sending that to you, Clarissa!), and Joss was making friends with lots of people. But after the exhibit, he was finished. He fussed through lunch and Nedra and I had to eat in shifts.
Then we drove over to the Legion of Honor and saw the Women Impressionists exhibit. I was struck most by the way they conveyed sheer fabrics with opaque paints, and the degree to which their personal life directed and determined their success as a painter. Joss slept through the impressionists, so we had time to check out the dead sea scrolls and a few other rooms.
We finished in the porcelain room which reminded me of the one at Charlottenburg palace and made me miss the kids. We get through places like that by sending an adult scout ahead and then giving the kids certain items to find, like a treasure hunt. It ensures that they look at the pieces and don't run around setting off alarms.
It was bittersweet to see the Chihuly exhibit because the humanities/social sciences building at BYU was going to have a piece from his studio installed in the huge atrium at the front of the building. It is a great space and would have looked marvelous, but the social scientists blocked it in favor of a display on the divinity of education or something like that. It is still not in place. I will forbear to rant on the unimaginative and slow-moving state of other colleges at the university, but you are welcome to.





Grandma got Joss to sleep in front of this piece. I guess that might not be a compliment, but we thought it was great.

This is called a macchia. He originally called them "uglies" because that is what his mother thought of them, but decided that wasn't the right marketing technique. He woke up one morning wanting to use all 300 colors of glass they had and these were the result. Macchia is supposed to be related to the Italian word for spots because of the white "clouds" in these pieces. The video is fun to watch and they show it in the media room. I'd recommend it for people without a baby. Oh, and while we were doing all of this, grandpa had Sebi. They learned how to clean sinks and toilets and hang towels up. Then they went out for Mexican food, saw Kung Fu Panda, and when they came out, Sebi told grandpa it was time for ice cream. Grandpa didn't know where they could get ice cream, but Sebi told him it was downstairs. Grandpa made a call to grandma, who confirmed that there was an ice cream place downstairs. Sebastian remembered it from his trip to the movies two months ago. The grandparents think he has quite a radar for finding food.