Last night,
Ken and I attended one of the private receptions in advance of the opening of the new
Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibition at the
Seattle Center. It is truly breathtaking! Though I had been on a hard hat tour during the construction of the project, the final product is magical and over-the-top eye-popping.
Leslie & Dale Chihuly,
Billy O'Neill and
Korynne & Jeff Wright and the entire
Wright family were on hand to toast the completion of this incredible project. How lucky Seattle is to have this sparkling jewel at the base of the
Space Needle! This will become one of the number one tourist attractions in our city and where I will definitely want to take my future houseguests.
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| Mille Fiori Forest |
My amateur photos won't do the reality justice, but I could not resist taking photo after photo as we walked through the exhibition. First we entered the mystical neon
Glass Forest followed by the
Northwest Room which includes
Dale's Indian blanket collection and sepia photographs of Indian people by
Edward Curtis. Next was the
Sealife Room followed by the
Persian
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| CEO Jeff Wright in Glasshouse |
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| Billy O'Neill, Cathi & Ken Hatch |
Ceiling and then two of my very favorite rooms; the
Mille Fiori which feels like a
Chihuly forest and the
Ikebana and Float Boat where the colorful orbs and fronds were displayed in two canoes. And then next we saw the
Chandeliers Room and the
Macchia Forest. It must be noted that the darkened galleries and lighting enhance the pieces to their incredibly brilliant hues and colors.
When we walked into the
Glasshouse after the darkened galleries, it was exhilarating to walk into the light and the soaring 40 foot tall glass and steel conservatory with a 100-foot long suspended glass sculpture overhead.
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| Steve Schryver & Gordon Prouty |
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| JJ McKay and Ken Hatch |
A walk through the gardens outside was equally impressive with different colors of glass art focused in segments of the garden. The
Collections Cafe was another fascinating place to visit since it includes many of
Dale's collections including dozens of accordians hanging from the ceiling and tables with displays of silver Mexican sombreros, fishing lures, clocks, string dispensers, ceramic dogs, wooden spools, fishing reels, plastic radios and other interesting collections of assorted treasures.
The reception food was delicious and was being produced by the onsite Cafe. I was so pleased to see old friends,
Chris & Mike Douglas there, both of whom I worked with in the restaurant industry at
Restaurants Unlimited many years ago.
Mike heads the food and beverages operations for the
Space Needle Sky City Restaurant and the
Chihuly Garden and Glass Collections Cafe. If the flavors of the food I sampled are an indication, I would say that
Mike is doing a fantastic job!
We connected with many friends and acquaintances during the reception of around 250 people who were there to celebrate the opening including
Karen & Chuck Lytle,
Patti Payne,
Gordon Prouty & Steve Schryver,
Carolyn & Bob Kitchell,
Jane & Dan McConnell,
Carolyn & Lee Lewis,
Susan Hutchison,
Toni & Rod Hoffman,
David Wright,
Howard Wright,
Jan Levy,
JJ McKay,
Ian MacNeil,
Steven Goldfarb,
Heide Lankeit,
Rick Peterson,
Janet Ketcham,
Detra Segar, Matt Griffin and scores of others.
Congratulations to the
Chihuly and
Wright families and all of those who have been involved on the fulfillment of seeing this beautiful dream become a reality. I can't wait to return!
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Ken & Cathi Hatch, Patti Payne, Dr. Bob Kitchell
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| Ikebana and Float Boat |
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