A backstage tour of St. Petersburg's Chihuly Collection

The Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg opens officially today and I was fortunate to attend a preview for the press yesterday. Chihuly himself was scheduled to lead the press tour but unfortunately, his health prevented him from being there. In his place, the tour was lead by Chihuly's friend and project architect Alberto Alfonso.

The Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg is presented by The Morean Arts Center and it's the world's first permanent Chihuly installation, and Alfonso's brilliantly, thoughtfully designed space reflects the fact that this collection is here for keeps. The facility and the art interact perfectly and the impact of both is magnified exponentially.

Chihuly's best known for his work in glass, but he works on paper and neon as well. There are installations in all three of his media in the collection and the combination of the three in one space fleshes out he vision and talent of an artist who practically invented the studio glass movement.

Because I attended a press preview, the collection staff hadn't erected all of the barriers and velvet ropes that will protect Chihuly's work when the public are welcomed in today. I was granted a once in a lifetime opportunity to see this work close up, barrier-free. It bordered on the unsettling to walk around ten feet tall, suspended chandeliers with a value I'd be afraid to calculate. What a thrill!

The collection starts in the street with a Chihuly sculpture that pays homage to the iconic tower of The Vinoy Hotel in  the background.

In no real order, here are some of the works on display.

St. Petersburg's Chihuly Collection opens today and you can find out about operating hours, ticket prices and information about how to get here and where to stay on The Chihuly Collection's website.

Dale Chihuly sets up shop down the street

All photos of the 2004 Chihuly exhibit at the 

Fine Arts Museum in St. Petersburg, FL from Dale Chihuly.

In 2004, glass artist Dale Chihuly brought a huge exhibition to St. Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts. Unlike most of the visiting exhibits in that museum, Chihuly's work wasn't contained in a single gallery. Instead, his work was integrated into the rest of the museum and seeing his fantastical glass work in the context of other art forms allowed me to see it as art for the first time.

On its own, blown glass as art never spoke to me before. I found the graceful shapes and bright colors to be distracting, I couldn't see the artist through the work. It didn't dampen my appreciation for it as a beautiful thing, but I saw it differently than I do a compelling painting or sculpture. However, seeing a pile of Chihuly's orange glass sitting next to a Georgia O'Keefe poppy brought the whole endeavor into sharp focus for me.

Chihuly's work is studied and it does fit into the long, glorious narrative of art history. Chihuly's work above pays respectful homage to the Georgia O'Keefe behind it, but it lacks the morbid and menacing core of the O'Keefe painting. Chihuly is pure exuberance at this point.

A lot of art critics tend to keep his work at arms length, probably because blown glass is such an accessible medium. Blown glass can be beauty for beauty's sake and it's that same beauty for beauty's sake that endears his work to so many non-art patrons. Say what you will, but the man is everywhere and it's due to his efforts that American art glass is an art form reborn. Chuck Boux (a local glass artist whose work I own) and every other working glass artist out there owes their career viability to Dale Chihuly.

So it's with a great deal of fanfare that St. Petersburg's Morean Art Center is opening the Dale Chihuly collection this weekend. The Dale Chihuly collection is the world's only permanently housed Dale Chihuly collection, it's a single artist museum for all intents and purposes. Part of the collection is a working Chihuly glass studio and hot shop. At the hot shop, regular people can see fine art glass being made before their eyes and people who want a bit more intense experience can take a glass blowing class.

The new Chihuly Collection is housed in a space designed by architect Alberto Alfonso and as luck would have it, I've been invited to the press preview later today. I'll meet the architect and get a guided tour of the collection led by Chihuly himself. He'll have a Q&A after the tour and if I think of something pithy I'll ask it.

I'm looking forward to this preview of the latest addition to the art scene here in the 'burg. I'm fortunate to live in a small city of 250,000 people and to be surrounded by such an embarrassment of cultural riches. Dale Chihuly has a new museum five blocks down the street from me. How many people can say that?

If you're local to me or if you find yourself on the coast of west Florida, check out the Morean Arts Center's Chihuly Collection.

Take a shower with an ax-murderer

Beautiful bathroom but the guy standing in the shower would freak me out in the middle of the night.

But as disturbing as it looks when it's just standing there. It's even worse when it comes to life. This thing is somewhere between creepy and obscene, I can't figure out which.

It sprays!

It spits!

It can make what's probably the strangest product photo I've ever seen.

This Shower Sculpture is the Aquantass by Bagno Sasso. I understand being provocative but this is really taking provocation to the edge. Bagno Sasso ought to change their name to Bagno Sesso.

About the mildest thing this shower reminds me of is an ax-murderer. What do you guys think? Is this the only option left when a body pillow won't cut it anymore?

Paint brands are not interchangeable

The gang at Benjamin Moore sent me a trade alert last week and it bore the headline, Benjamin Moore colors can only be made with Benjamin Moore paint.

I have a highly critical eye when it comes to separating fact from fiction when it comes to marketing messages and in this case what Benjamin Moore is saying is true. I repeat the same thing to my clients all the time. Paint brands are not interchangeable.

From Benjamin Moore:

Mismatched colors are often not evident until the paint is on the walls, and the results can be disappointing for your clients. Competitors may claim they can match Benjamin Moore colors, but the truth is that they can’t.

You can only get true Benjamin Moore colors using Benjamin Moore paint. The reason lies in our manufacturing process. Our paints are created using proprietary colorants and resins and formulated with our patented waterborne technologies. This highly controlled system ensures the quality of Benjamin Moore paints and the purity of our colors.

When another store offers to match a Benjamin Moore color, their scanner simply provides its "best guess" for matching the color using another paint, generic colorants and a different tinting system. While it may be close, the final result is not the color you recommended to your client. In other words, it’s a knockoff.
Be sure that the color you envisioned is the color you get.

Authentic Benjamin Moore colors are only available at your local Benjamin Moore retailer.

Truer words were never spake. When it comes to paint colors, the formulation of the paint itself is the key. This is true across the board. I understand wanting to shave a buck off of the total cost of a job, but trust me, quality paint is not a corner you want to cut. Paint brands are not interchangeable.

War or peace?

So far, 2010 has proven to be a very personally challenging year. We have found ourselves visiting more hospitals to see ill relatives, attending more funerals and engaging in more court appearances for a family matter than we ever thought possible in a 6 month period of time! During this very trying time, my family has sought refuge in the solace of our home. We have all found comfort in different ways but, our living space is where we decompress, mourn, pray, bond and escape from the outside world.

When life gets really tough, where to do retreat? Do you seek refuge in the sanctuary of your home or is your house in such disarray that it only compounds your stress? Mother Theresa said "peace and war begin in the home" so does your home bring you peace or does it create war? What do I mean by this? Well, if your home is so full of junk, clutter and visual fodder that you have no idea even what type of flooring you have anymore or what the finish of your dining room table is, then you have war! If you spend a good portion of your time looking for essentials because they got lost in the massive amount of 'collectibles', then you have war! If you cannot safely open closet doors without having a family member ready to dial 911 for you once that door has been opened, then you are at war! 

Now, it is not my intention to judge, condemn or cause you to feel inferior. However, if you can't see your kitchen countertops because they are so full of 'stuff', it's time for some on purpose peace-making. The task may be ominous or seemingly impossible but you can make small efforts to end the war and bring peace. The Bible says 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me' so I KNOW you can do it! 

Step 1: Take a deep breath and really look around your space.....open your eyes and SEE what you live in; don't just glaze over it all like you normally would. What drives you crazy to the point of violence yet, you just don't ever have the energy to deal with? Make a list of what you decide you want to change...big or small....just write it on a piece of paper, make a note in your iPhone or Blackberry, create a task list in Outlook...you get the point! Once it is all recorded, you will not be able to effectively avoid those things anymore; you will inherently want to change them.

Step 2: After celebrating completion of Step 1 with an enormous piece of chocolate cake and numerous scoops if ice cream (I am confident the Lord will remove all fat and calories from this one celebratory snack for you!), now prioritize that list of stuff. Do the simple, easy stuff first so you have immediate results and a track record of successful accomplishments to validate your efforts. For example, if it drives you crazy that your spouse comes home from work and throws everything on the kitchen counter, then just get a basket or container for them! You will no longer have to look at their necessities scattered willy-nilly throught the space and it won't make you want to lash out irrationally at them because you can't stand to see it one more second! Make sense? This de-cluttering and organizing does not have to be a long, drawn out, torturous process. I love The Fly Lady (@flylady on Twitter)) because she puts organization into very small, manageable pieces. I also personally enjoy the website www.Getorganizedwizard.com. There you will find exceptional tools, tricks and guidance to organizing every aspect of your life. I would suggest these 2 web sites to give you clarity and professional direction. However, don't spend so much time researching and gathering information that you creatively avoid the real task at hand; creating peace in your home by vanquishing the war.

Step 3: Once you have completed the first 2 steps, comes the fun part...Enjoy what you have changed and created!!!! You will notice the stress level in your house has subsided because everyone can now find their phone chargers, keys, socks and all other essentials. Your family is at peace; not war. They love that they no longer have to conduct major renovations in the bathroom just to locate the toothpaste or get up 10 minutes early just to search the kitchen for the cereal. I bet they are also amazed because they had NO idea you could actually eat IN the dining room AT the dining room table! :)

Our homes are to be our sanctuaries and our refuge from the daily grind, the trials, the tribulations...the toughness of living in a fallen world. If your home is simply de-cluttered and organized, you will enjoy your space and find it much easier to relax. You will be at peace with your home and not war; just as God intended  the home He gave you to be.

Guest blogger Sherry Norris is an interior designer and sales manager at the largest countertop fabricator in the Southeast, Old Castle Surfaces. She can be found usually on her blog Improving Your Castle and she Tweets as @countertoplady. Thanks Sherry!