Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg Still Impressive, pt 2

Mille Fiori, 2010; St. Petersburg has two excellent new museums - the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (2021) with fine arts, furniture and decorative arts from the early 1900s and the Imagine Museum (2018) with a huge collection of glass art

Mille Fiori, 2010; the Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay linking St. Petersburg with Bradenton is the world’s highest (191 feet) and longest (5+ miles) cable-stay bridge

Ivory Basket Set with Auburn Lip and Body Wrap, 1979; the city of St. Petersburg is 62% White, 21% Black, 3% Asian and 9% Hispanic; the largest employers are Raymond James, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Home Shopping Network and Publix

Macchia Forest, 2010; these pieces are created by a team which enables them to make such large glass or architectural art; this collection stresses that it's not a museum since the pieces never change

Blue Neon Tumbleweed, 2009; perfect piece for a Texas ranch house (although part of it not working isn't a big endorsement); Chihuly has done commissions for Bill Gates and Bill Clinton

Mille Fiori, 2010; the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge was damaged beyond repair in 1980 when a huge cargo ship smashed into one of its main pillars during a rainstorm; the crash caused the deaths of 35 motorists who were crossing the bridge at the time

Carnival Chandelier, 2008; Chihuly made his first chandelier in 1992 and they evolved to include as many as 1000 individual pieces of glass; Chihuly is an American who earned a Fulbright Fellowship and trained on the Venetian island of Murano

Ivory Basket with Oxblood Spots, 1977; every year, for three days in February or March, several streets in downtown St. Pete are barricaded to create a loop track for the famous Firestone Grand Prix car races

Sunset Persian Wall, 2010; SHINE St. Pete Mural Festival began in 2015 and since has contributed to 100+ murals designed by artists from across the globe; we saw them throughout the city and they really brighten up neighborhoods

Muted Raspberry Ikebana with Gilded Pink Stems, 2002; the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club was established in 1924 and gained attention as the 'World's Largest Shuffleboard Club' with 110 courts and 5,000+ members in the 1950s and 1960s

Aquamarine Spotted Venetian Piccolo with Emerald Prunts, 1998; Chihuly typically draws a design or verbally describes his vision with a team then actually doing the work to execute the piece

Mille Fiori, 2010; Italian for 'thousand flowers;' Mille Fiori was designed to create a mystical garden of glass; included in the $20 admission is a visit across the street to the Morean Arts Center where you can see gorgeous glass pieces being made

Persian Ceiling, 2008; St. Pete is home to Tropicana FIeld where the Tampa Bay Rays play their home baseball games; the stadium is the only non-retractable domed stadium in Major League Baseball and has the smallest seating capacity in the league

Verdant Green Ikebana with Emerald Leaf and Two Stems, 2002; there are different videos here showing how these large pieces are made as well as documenting some of the major installations around the world Chihuly has had over 40+ years

Silvered White Spotted Ikebana with Gilded Purple Stems, 2006; ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arranging; Chihuly feels strongly that his work should appear as if it came from nature