Denver Botanical Gardens

10/21/2014

This past summer I discovered that the Denver Botanical Gardens was hosting a Dale Chihuly Exhibit for much of the year. I love his work. We were lucky enough to have seen his glass exhibit at the Phoenix Botanical Gardens in the spring of 2009 as we crossed the US on our road trip to California. So, even though I'm not at all a fan of navigating big cities - the Botanical Gardens are right in a residential area in downtown Denver - we just had to take advantage of the opportunity.

The drive into the city wasn't even that bad, and even though it was supposed to rain, the sun did come out for a little while - the real one, shining on the big red glass one......

The garden has very strict photography restrictions, so I only brought along Bonnie and Peach. I figured Bonnie is my little artist, so she would appreciate it most......

It was amazing seeing the glass set in amongst the flowers.

My favourite displays in Phoenix were the 'float boats', which were gorgeous set in among the rocks and cacti there, but here in Denver they were actually set up in the water....

I didn't manage to take many photos with the girls, as it quickly got crowded, and I'm not that comfortable taking doll photos when there's lots of people around. But they loved what they saw.

10 Comments

Charie Wilson

10/21/2014 05:56:42 am

That is simply stunning i love the glass in the water too the girls fit right in their with their colorful sweaters just amazing.
Hugs Charie

Martha

10/21/2014 07:09:39 am

The glass installations were incredible everywhere, and with the sun out there were mirror-like reflections in all the pools. It was a wonderful place to take photos. The only real challenge was keeping the tall buildings surrounding the gardens out of the photos and reflections.

I wish I'd been braver and taken more photos with the dolls there, but it got very busy. Adults I can ignore, but there were several school buses full of kids on field trips there that day too.

marianne

10/21/2014 08:09:44 am

Amazing and cool art!

Martha

10/21/2014 08:59:30 am

It sure is! This was the second Chihuly Exhibit we've seen, both in completely different settings. I especially loved the installations in the pools with their reflections. The glass lights up at night too, but the last evening for that was the day before we got there. Until the end of November they only light them up on weekend evenings, and we were there in the middle of the week.

Donna

10/21/2014 10:12:57 am

Amazing and beautiful...like scenes from a dream!

Martha

10/22/2014 08:49:41 am

There's definitely a fantasy - or even a sci-fi - element to the glass

Jay

10/22/2014 03:21:49 am

I've been out of town for daughter's wedding, then back to home renovation mode. Have missed reading your blog. Then finally got a chance and what amazing photos! The glass in the garden is magical and fantastic! Absolutely love that first boat on the water. But it's all so wonderful how they incorporated the glass with the growing things. Thank you for sharing these fantastic photos! I'm like you--not comfortable photographing my dolls with lots of people around. So I really appreciate the shots you got.

Martha

10/22/2014 08:55:50 am

The glass looked so amazing among the flowers. I especially liked them amongst the purple fall asters (sorry no picture here) It would have been interesting to have seen it earlier in the summer with summer flowers, or at night when the glass was lit.

I never like taking doll photos when there's lots of people around, but was especially anxious about taking my dolls out after reading their photography restrictions - both for the gardens and the Chihuly exhibit.

Jane

10/22/2014 05:54:46 am

Well! How amazing! I have never heard of this artist before so had to go and find out more.
Lucky you getting to see this exhibition.

And I think you were very brave to take photos of the dolls there. Bonnie and Peach look memorised by the art in that first photo and I am not surprised that they are too!

Martha

10/22/2014 08:57:37 am

I was familiar with his work, having seen it before, and check out his website from time to time. That's where I learned about the Denver exhibit. Well, being that close, we just had to take advantage.

Denver Botanical Gardens

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