Cultured Calm: Chihuly Reflections on Nature at Kew Gardens

If you have have ever been to  Londons  Victoria and Albert Museum, you can’t failed to have seen the work of Dale Chihuly. A huge piece of his glass art hangs in the entrance. A chandelier of tangled  blue and green twisted glass suspended from the the dome ceiling. Visitors will regularly found standing beneath it pointing cameras into it’s light.

If you are in London any time from now until the end of October there is much more of Chihuly’s work waiting for you. Chihuly: Reflections on Nature, is the collection of intricate and strking glass sculptures which have taken up residence in Kew Gardens.  This is a wonderful opportunity to see these unique works of art in a beautiful botanical setting.

A large collection of this American Artists works are on display in Kew, many them which are being shown for the first time in the UK.

We visited the gardens on the hottest day of the year so far, waiting until the late afternoon when we hoped the crowds would have dispersed (they had) and we could take advantage of the softer early evening light. It was a gorgeous time to visit and we had a delightful few hours walking bare foot on the cool grass, stopping to admire the abundance of verdant green trees but mostly searching for Chihuly’s.

We were aided our way by the map Kew have helpfully produced to help guide visitors around the sculptures. This is immensely useful, because, despite their size and glossy colours they are so well suited to their surroundings, I suspect without knowing where to look some of them might be missed.

Outdoor Art

In London, visiting art galleries and seeing major exhibitions has become a very popular pastime.  This is great, as it is testimony to how much more accessible art is for everyone these days.  The downside of this however, is that galleries are often packed and popular exhibitions over booked and busy.  Visitors often stand cheek by jowl craning necks to get a view.  The beauty of seeing a display such as this in the outdoor and especially in the vast area of Kew Gardens is the space to see, walk around and view from different angles.

Art and Nature

The joy of seeing this art is not just in the pieces themselves which are mostly stunning and beautiful in their own right.  It is seeing them next to the natural beauty of trees and plants and nature.  The sculptures have been placed in a variety of settings around the gardens.  Some sit amongst the tropical plants of the victorian glass temperate house.  Others are placed singularly and alone, others weaved around other structures.  Each piece seems to have been placed in exactly the right part of the gardens. Walking through the calm green landscape and seeing it punctuated by pops of strong colour works so well.

The Sculptures

The Temperate House is the worlds larges Victorian Glass House and it is just perfect for the variety of sculptures which have taken up residence here.  A large blue glass hanging sculpture is suspended high above the ground and greets visitors in a most striking way.  It can be viewed from beneath and also from the balcony which circles around the edge of the building.  Throughtout the rest of the Temperate house, sculptures are tucked away beneath the tropical leaves and flowers some so well blended they look as if they could have sprung from the earth in the same way as the plants surrounding them.

Along side the path whichleads to the Palm house, tall red reeds mix naturally with golden swaying long grasses.

At the Japanese Gateway looking towards the Great Pagoda, balls of marbled, coloured glass are set amongst carefully raked gravel. So still and perfectly placed they could be  floating. 

Sapphire Star, is one of the most striking sculptures.  It was first composed in 2010 and now stands proudly beside the Victoria Gate.

The Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower, which I believe looks like a red hot poker is particularly imposting and is made up of 1,882 separate elements.

Another huge work is Summer Sun. Composed of burning red and amber glass it literally glows in its position beside the lake close to the main entrance of the gardens.  This is the piece which was probably getting the most attention when we were there. On a day which was burning hot this piece was particularly relevant!

This summer in The Royal Botanic Kew Gardens, art and nature are perfectly blended to create a display unlike any other in London right now.

The exhibition runs until the 27th October 2019