Chihuly to replace Fun Forest?

It's possible that Seattle may get a permanent Chihuly exhibit where the Fun Forest is right now under the Space Needle. What? The Fun Forest is closing? First they demolished Never Never Land at Point Defiance Park, then the Nocturnal Exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo and now the Fun Forest. They are deliberatly plucking all the childhood memories out. What's next...Wild Waves?

Why replace? I'm all for a wicked combination of the two: Old rickety roller coasters, decrepid merry go round animals, and a jungle of Chihuly glass creeping up through the ruins.

(This article also gives an interesting little taste of a Northwest city rivalry.)

From Meg Coyle @ King5 today:

"SEATTLE - The future of Seattle Center's Fun Forest is a little clearer and maybe a lot more colorful. It closes for good later this year, and could reopen with something brand new and uniquely Northwest. [...] "People can see how artists work in glass and that is real seductive in itself," says museum director Tim Close. [...] It could soon show up in Seattle in a big way. Chihuly and Wright Art, LLC are in talks to open a Chihuly Center on the site of the old Fun Forest. [...] But Tacoma has become all but synonomous with Chihuly and glass art. Museum of Glass director Tim Close is prepared to share the wealth, even if it is with Seattle. "I think naturally we'd like it in Tacoma, but we're going to be supportive of Dale and we'll see how it goes," he said. And if all goes as planned, we could see Dale Chihuly at Seattle Center sometime next year."

Excerpted from: Coyle, M. "Chihuly glass exhibition may come to Seattle Center." King 5 News. January 6, 2010, accessed same day. http://www.king5.com/news/local/Chihuly-Glass-Exhibition-Coming-to-Seattle-Center-80859032.html

Martin Blank's Fluent Steps, News Tribune

From Rosemary Ponnekanti, Tacoma News Tribune:

"It’s been 2-1/2 years in the making and three weeks in the installing. “Fluent Steps,” a giant glass installation in the reflecting pool on the main plaza outside Tacoma’s Museum of Glass, is finally in place.

After seven months of delay, the work will be officially unveiled Saturday at a VIP donor party. But you can see it today.

“‘Fluent Steps’ is a truly transformative work of art for the Museum of Glass,” said director Tim Close. “This project has united all three components of MOG – the hot shop, exhibitions and the permanent collection.”

The work was commissioned by the MOG after Blank, a Seattle glass artist, suggested the idea during a residency there in 2007. The museum has recently begun building its own collection, and “Fluent Steps” will be a permanent installation.

[...]

It’s the biggest work Blank has ever done, and it took a team of 41 glass artists, engineers and architects to create. Most of the glass was blown during residencies at the MOG’s hot shop last year, while being partly assembled in a Puyallup Avenue studio. The 71,000 pounds of molten glass were installed over the last three weeks, with the pool refilled last Wednesday. Though the installation was challenging, only one piece of glass was broken, Blank said Thursday.

Crinkled, flamelike, flowery or bubbled, Blank’s glass shapes cluster in four main sections like an archipelago. The largest, “Cascade,” rises up to 15 feet above the pool’s surface, and is given line and depth by occasional pieces of earth-toned glass, reflected in the smaller “Echo.”

The central “Log” extends about 20 feet, its sections of glass formed around a real madrona trunk to create realistic bark texture.

“Wisps,” at the far end of the pool, are curving ribbons of flamelike glass set low into the water. At night the work will be uplit with white light.

Blank’s inspiration for the work was the movement of wind on a lake.

“The glass just picks up on the change of light there, it amplifies it like a lens,” said Blank. “It’s a dialogue on the emotive nature of water. It’s about how water transcends and transforms you.”

[...]"

Excerpted From:

Ponnekanti, R. "Museum of Glass pools sparkle with glass again." April 17, 2009. website accessed June 2, 2009. http://www.thenewstribune.com/ae/artmuseums/story/712021.html