Art Talk: Lime and Lava Red Tower

For 6 months I have been going to the Desert Botanical Garden regularly. Now I want to share pictures of pieces in Chihuly in the Desert that I have taken at different times of day, through different seasons and light.

At 16 feet (4.87 meters) high this piece is very impressive.

Dale Chihuly
Lime and Lava Red Tower, 2021
16' x 8' x 7½' (4.87m x 2.43m x 2.28m)
Blown glass and steel
Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, Arizona

During my visits I would often sit or stand near a piece watched and listened to the visitors reaction to the piece as they saw it. I would also offer to take pictures of people in front of the art. I remember very well the day (March 19th) I chose to sit an watch the reactions to the Lime and Lava Red tower. I wasn't feeling too well. My abdomen hurt. I picked this piece because it had a really nice bench area in the shade to sit and watch. I watched until the pain got to be too much. Then I went home and told my roommate I wasn't feeling well and an hour or so later I was in the ER and was admitted and spent the next 4 days in the hospital with a small bowel obstruction. I did get this picture. It reminds me of that day and how that is about all the effort I had to take pictures.

One source said it has 537 pieces. Like many of the people in the garden I wondered how they put it together. I found this video that is the installation of a similar shaped tower.

What I appreciated most is that the lime or yellow as scattered throughout the piece, not just at the very top.

Light really makes a difference. The first picture was taken on the right side facing the sun at 08:00:41am and the second was the left side facing away from the sun at 08:00:52am