Chihuly Garden and Glass is a museum dedicated to the work of Dale Chihuly, a glass artist specializing in large-scale installments. It’s located in Seattle Center, making it a popular destination as part of a day of sight-seeing. You can even buy a ticket that gives you combined admission to the Space Needle and the garden (assuming that former attraction isn’t closed for construction, as it was on the day we visited).
When we were planning where to take my in-laws last month, this was my mom-in-law’s main request. Many people consider this a must-see attraction for a Seattle visit.
Chihuly’s work is beautiful. It’s a riot of color and form, and the museum is designed to really showcase each piece with dramatic lighting. Photography is allowed, and I suspect it would be a fun place for a photographer to visit to really put their camera through its paces. My smart phone can’t really convey the depth of color of the glass.
Having visited the museum on our own first trip to Seattle some years ago, I was struck by a realization: the museum was exactly the same. I’m sure there were some seasonal changes to the outside garden section (we even saw some work being done on the garden while we were there), but the inside displays were the same.
This is a small museum, and you can easily see the entire thing in about an hour if you don’t stop for the half-hour live glassblowing demo (my family did, but it was held outside in the 30 degree temperature, so I spent a pleasant 20 minutes inside the glasshouse).
Despite its small size, the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum costs only $4 less than the nearby MoPop, where one could easily spend the entire day.
I feel like the value of this museum could be greatly improved if they had just dedicated one room to a rotating exhibit, giving repeat visitors something new to see. Why not showcase the work of some of Chihuly’s apprentices, or of other exciting glass artists? Alternatively, the first room you enter includes a collection of Native American baskets and blankets that inspired some of the artist’s early work. What about a temporary exhibit of exciting contemporary baskets or blankets being created by Native artists? I know there’s got to be exciting stuff happening in weaving.
A visit to the website shows that Chihuly Garden and Glass hosts events such as drawing classes and yoga in the glass room, as well as forthcoming dance classes in the glass room (hello, you have my attention!) so I can see how if I lived closer to Seattle Center, it might be worth having a membership to take advantage of these more interesting events. But it’s a hassle to get there from the suburbs and tack on $5-10 for parking for the day.
And keep in mind, I love glass. I’ve been collecting lampworked glass beads for 18 years, I’ve attended the Flame Off in Tucson and I’ve worked as an office assistant for a beadmaker friend. I made multiple trips from Tucson to the Phoenix area to attend the now-defunct Bead Museum, which was also small enough to browse in an hour — but which had the sense to curate traveling exhibits of exciting new art beads.
This museum does have a large gift store with a collection of related items (from the typical souvenirs emblazoned with the museum’s name, to actual pieces of glasswork to add to your own art collection) and a lot of general artistic or PNW-themed items. I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my favorite local tea shops, B. Fuller’s Mortar and Pestle represented, as well as some local chocolate companies. It was really nice to see them supporting Seattle merchants as opposed to having some generic teas and snacks from a national supplier.
Is the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum a must-visit? If you enjoy glassblowing or large sculpture installations, absolutely. Is it worth repeat visits? Probably only if you work in glass yourself, or want to practice your photography. I feel like two visits were plenty, and if any future guests want to go, I’ll probably go hang out in the Armory with a cup of tea and a book and save myself the $24 admission.
