Last week when Wendy and I were in Denver we had the opportunity to visit the Denver Botanical Gardens where there was an exhibit of the glass artwork of Dale Chihuly. It was my first real exposure to his work, and what fascinated me was the way that the works were displayed amidst the natural surroundings of the botanical gardens. The glass sculptures both complimented and contrasted with their surroundings in beautiful ways. I loved the way this stack of boulder-like blue glass pulled in the blue of the rocky mountain sky down into trees. It reminded me of a friend of Wendy’s whose favorite color is “where the blue of the sky meets the green of the trees .”
As I was leaving the McNay Art Museum, I looked back and saw this sculpture by Jean Arp through the full length windows by the entrance. Sometimes art captures me, not because of the piece itself, but because of the artwork in it’s particular space. In this case, I was struck by the small sculpture framed in the giant portrait window with a flood of light that wasn’t directly behind it, but slightly off to one side. The image of the sculpture in its space became an artful vision of a piece of artwork. I shot this photo from outside the museum. If you look at the high res image you can barely see my ghost like reflection taking the picture.
Sometimes, the title of a piece adds to its impact. In this case, “Saint of the Forest Edge” was ironic, since it sits just inside the window looking out over perhaps the most beautiful grounds of an art museum I’ve ever experienced, yet forever trapped inside.
