A Garden of Glass – The Chihuly Collection

Check out our review of the garden of glass at the Chihuly Collection in St. Pete!

We were lucky enough to finally check out the Chihuly Collection located in the Central Arts District in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.  It re-opened in its new location in October 2016.  It now calls home to an 11,000 square foot location which allowed the works to be re-imagined giving each piece more room, producing unique visual experiences.  It is a permanent collection of Chihuly’s unique artwork in many of his spectacular large scale displays.  It is part of the Morean Arts Center located next door.  There is a total of eight galleries ending in a Chihuly Collection retail store.  They offer a wide variety of merchandise at many price points.

There also is glass studio and hot shop where you can see resident glass artists creating beautiful works of art.  For an additional charge, you can participate in a personal glass experience.  This is a one-on-one opportunity to work with one of their demonstration artists to learn the fundamentals of glass blowing.  You get to create a sculpture, paper weight, or a holiday ornament to take home to remember your experience.  They do these experiences multiple times daily.

For those of you that do not know what the Chihuly Collection is all about, the artwork was designed by Dale Chihuly, an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur, who’s artistic field is blown glass.  He began experimenting with glass blowing in 1965.  He received his masters of science degree in sculpture and masters of fine arts degree in sculpture.  He traveled the world and taught the art of blown glass.  After a car accident blinding his left eye and a body surfing accident where he dislocated his right shoulder and was unable to continue his work, he stepped back and hired his team to do it.  Once he stepped back he could see the artwork from a different perspective.  His blown glass sculpture are in many art galleries and permanent collections all over the world. He is credited with changing the methods of creating glass art and developing multi-part glass sculptures.  However, it goes beyond glass… his achievements have influenced contemporary art in general.

The Chihuly Collection is located at 720 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, Florida. There phone number is 727-822-7872. Admission is $19.95 for adults.  They offer senior, military, and student discounts. They are opened Monday thru Saturday 10 am till 5 pm and Sundays 12 pm till 5 pm.  The glass studio does daily demonstrations at 1 pm, 2 pm, 3 pm, and 4 pm.

You can check out their website here.

Jason Mayhew

My name is Jason Mayhew, and I am the owner of OFF On The Go. When not traveling with the website, I own my own marketing and PR company, J Mayhew Marketing. I have the best job where I get to travel the world and showcase the most amazing and unique experiences!