(bumped-4:30PM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
 Bellagio Lobby |
For those of you traveling to Las Vegas in the near future, I’d like to encourage you to stop by the Bellagio lobby to see some great glass sculpture, by Dale Chihuly, if you like that sort of thing.
More Chihuly is available in some of the Bellagio’s nightclubs and for purchase in the Chihuly shop in Via Fiore.
My photos are not the best. My apologies for the inadequate skill and the bad eyesight. Official photos can be found here.
I took most of my images (inside) at night. There is a totally different vibe in the bright of day. Maybe you can get a sense of that from the lobby shots.
 Close-up: Blue |
I tried to zoom in on some of the individual flowers in the ceiling. It worked some times and sometimes was less than totally successful. My intention was to sample some of the individual colors. I was planning on sampling some of those colors for some future graphics.
 Close-up: Peach |
One problem you will probably encounter taking photos of this work is the jostling by the crowd. The Bellagio lobby has a way of being packed. And I’ve always had problems holding steady when shooting upward anyway, truth be told.
I work on the principle that you can’t get better without lots and lots of trial and error. That I get more than my share of error is unfortunate, but I try to learn from it.
 Close-up: Burgandy |
 Check-In Ant, by Susan P. Cochran |
If you walk past the lobby and enter the Conservatory, you can experience life from an Alice in wonderland persective, as designed by Stephen Stefanou and Susan P. Cochran…still having a Chihuly feel as well. Cochran did the ants, including the one behind the check-in counter. Stefanou designed the Conservatory exhibit. Besides the bronze ants there are giant water cans, a bucket and shovel, giant glass flowers and mushrooms, butterflies, bees and hot air balloons above, sculpted olive trees (live trees, hundreds of years old, which have been pruned a la bonzai, but much larger), and many kinds of flowers and other plants, as well as several water features.
And there is an obelisk on the spa side.
 From the entrance |
 Flowers, Butterflies, a Bee, and the Ant Queen |
 An Ant among the Flowers |
 Bucket and Shovel |
 Mushrooms |
 The Obelisk |
The last couple of photos are at the Patisserie. They have a 27 foot tall chocolate fountain (Guinness record), with three kinds of chocolate, a chocolate eagle, and art glass.
 At the Patissierie: The chocolate fountain |
 At the Patissierie II |
If you prefer video, I found this:
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…the Las Vegas environs, intended to educate those headed for Netroots Nation 2010. Next up will probably be Boulder City and the dam.
Also available in Orange.
There are exhibits in Nashville this summer too. In a couple weeks, we’re going to an evening concert at Cheekwood, Joan Baez in the midst of Chihuly. Should be super fabulous – Cheekwood is fabulous in itself (old southern estate, magnificent gardens)- and Baez and Chihuly are two of my favorites in their genres.
Thanks for sharing these fabulous pictures.
Author
…in hopes that someone with a Docudharma email account will stumble by. I’m getting error messages from Entourage that it cannot connect to the Docudharma server to check for my email.
Has there been a problem?
Got to see some in Waikoloa this past winter. I’m content financially – poor by most standards – but if I ever hit a big one I’m getting one of his works.
He is finestkind.
I’ve had the opportunity to see much of Chihuly’s astounding artwork.
If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about glass art, Chihuly founded the Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington in 1971.
Tacoma, Washington is home to the only glass museum in the United States that is devoted to contemporary glass artwork, and only one of three in the entire world. It all began in August, 1992, beginning with a conversation between friends, Tacoma native Dale Chihuly and retired University of Puget Sound president Phil Phibbs. I was fortunate enough to be present at the grand opening ceremony for the museum in early July, 2002, which included remarks by Dale Chihuly.
For those who might be interested, here is the story of how the museum came into being. Once on this page, there are several tabs that can be selected for further information.
This link will take you to a page that provides a great description and photos of the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma. Although there is a charge to visit the museum, except for third Thursdays each month from 5:00 to 8:00 P.M., the Bridge of Glass and other impressive outdoor exhibits are accessible free of charge 24 hours a day. The outdoor installations are particularly striking after dark.
The nearby Tacoma Art Museum, whose new location opened in May, 2003, also features a number of works by Chihuly, and during its grand opening, hosted an extremely impressive display of one of Chihuly’s more elaborate installations, entitled, “Mille Fiore.” This page will provide you with several views of this installation, as well as an explanatory video. The video, in particular, includes some great footage.
If you visit the area, you’ll find more examples of Chihuly’s handiwork in a number of other nearby locations.
Tacoma is the county seat for Pierce County, Washington, which also boasts the greatest variation in elevation of any county in the lower 48 (from sea level to 14,411 feet). And for anyone who enjoys vintage automobiles, in about a year and a half to two years, the new LeMay Auto Museum is scheduled to open and will draw upon the world’s largest private automobile collection (currently more than 2,300 cars), and depending on what part of the website you visit, will ultimately house from 500 to 1000 vehicles at a time.
In any event, the new facility will be the largest auto museum in the world, and is estimated to draw from 425,000 to more than 500,000 visitors annually, depending again upon what part of the website you visit. The LeMay Museum currently showcases many of the vintage vehicles in its rural Pierce County location, where visitors can currently view part of the collection. Although I’m not generally an auto enthusiast, many of the vintage vehicles on display there are truly works of art, providing a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of the automobile.
For those visiting Tacoma, if one exhausts all sightseeing options, including the Twin Tacoma Narrows bridges (which are tied for fifth place among the longest suspension bridge spans in the United States) and the new Chambers Bay Golf Course, their largest suburb, Seattle, thirty miles distant, offers a few sites worthy of consideration as well.