Amazing Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, Florida

Float Boat 2007; I visited this collection last year and wanted to share it with my parents

Ruby Red Icicle Chandelier 2010; this permanent collection is housed in 11000 sq ft museum in St. Pete's Central Arts District

Blue Neon Tumbleweed 2009; perfect piece for a Texas ranch house; Chihuly has done commissions for Bill Gates and Bill Clinton

Silvered Gilded Scarlet Piccolo Venetian with Curls 2000; started series with idea of replicating Art Deco vases

Mille Fiori 2010; Italian for thousand flowers; this large installation creates a mystical garden of glass

Macchia Forest 2010; pieces are created by a team enabling such large glass, architectural art to be crafted

Cobalt and Lavender Piccolo Venetian with Gilded Handles 1993; Chihuly has a retail store at the Bellagio in Las Vegas; artist is impressive marketer

Morean White Seafoam Set, 2010; his largest permanent exhibit can be found at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art

Aquamarine Spotted Venetian Piccolo with Emerald Prunts 1998; Chihuly would draw design with Italian glassblower executing the piece

This is my favorite of the Macchia Forest pieces; admission to the Chihuly Collection is $19.95 with seniors getting a $2 discount

Included in the price of the Chihuly Collection is a visit across the street to the Morean Arts Center where we watched gorgeous glass pieces being made

Gorgeous vase by Tim Soluna; Tim narrated the glass making demonstration we attended and helped us understand the complex process required to make these pieces

The Morean Glass Studio (across the street from the Chihuly Collection) features reasonably priced pieces done by local artists

This glass bowl by Chuck Boux was astonishing; he has done commissions for the New York Yankees, the Smithsonian and Time Warner Communications

My Dad liked hearing about how the pieces are made as glass artists across the street narrated the process as they worked

Silver Gilded Lemon Piccolo Venetian with Curling Fronds 1999; small, original pieces sell for $10000+ while large installations go for many millions

Silvered Piccolo Venetian with Teal and Aqua Spotted Flowers 2009; fantastic variety of colors

Verdant Green Ikebana with Emerald Leaf and Two Stems, 2002; there are different videos showing how these large pieces are made as well as key Chihuly installations around the world

Carnival Chandelier 2008; Dale Chihuly is an American who earned a Fulbright Fellowship and trained on the Venetian island of Murano

Black over Orange Venetian with Chartreuse Coil, 1991 and Chartreuse and Black Venetian with Orange Coil, 1991