Chihuly at the Boston MFA

While I was in Boston last weekend, my mother said she wanted to see a "glass exhibit" at the Museum of Fine Arts. I groaned silently, thinking I was going to stare at paperweights for a few hours. When we got to the museum and I saw the word Chihuily, I got really, really excited.

Image from Rainy Day Magazine

Prior to that day, the only Chihuly I can remember seeing in person was in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. A massive stretch of the ceiling is covered in his work.

Image from Bridge & Tunnel Club

The MFA exhibit is, in a word, amazing. I only had my iPhone with me to take pictures, so I'm pulling a few from sites with better images. In some cases, though, you get my iPhone picture.

Upon entering, you find a boat full of Chihuly's glass. The idea came to him after throwing his pieces off a bridge and having some young people pick the pieces up in their old boats.

Then, there's a long room full of small, ornate pieces.

Next up is a massive room full of pieces, all tightly grouped together. The view changes as you move around.

Here's my pictures, taking from the "top" of the room.

The next room was a pass through for some, but I could have stared at the ceiling for hours. There were so many little, quirky things among the more "traditional" Chihuly pieces.

The chandelier room was probably my favorite, but I didn't get a great picture of it. This blog has a pretty good shot of it.

I loved a piece that had long, purple glass stalks stuck into logs, like rustic birthday candles. My mother loved it because it was called Neodymium. She studied neodymium back in the 60s as part of a big project that won her a scholarship.

Image from Rain Day Destinations

There's also a very tall piece in the atrium that serves as a bridge between the new and old parts of the MFA. There's a video of the installation on the MFA website.

Has anyone else seen the Chihuly exhibit? What did you think?