First ambassadorial envoy completed!

Yesterday a friend and I took advantage of a local Groupon and visited the Chihuly collection in St Petersburg, Florida as the first step in my efforts to be a Museum Ambassador.  (I love any excuse to say his name out loud, it's an intensely fun sound: Chihuly, Chihuly, Chihuly!)  Friend is a cultured enough fellow, but doesn't care much for art museums.  He's of a practical frame of mind, and I stopped trying to convince him to visit art museums with me when I got tired of trying to answer when he asked, "why is this art?" But with a glass of wine and after-hours admission to the collection in the offing, I figured it was as good a time as any to make museum-y overtures.

Overall the evening was a success--and I've learned that a glass of wine rarely hurts when trying to make someone more receptive art.  Dale Chihuly's work is truly stunning, and the Morean has done a fantastic job of creating a setting that frames his work well.  The exhibit is truly an immersive experience, and it was a lot of fun to listen to the other folks wandering through the exhibits with us.

photo (c) the Morean Arts Center: www.moreanartscenter.org

My one quibble is just proof that I've spent too long in history museums, but I kept looking for more explanations.  I love knowing the details of a piece, that it took four assistants and six years, or that the model was the painter's dentist, or any little piece of background.  It's a personal thing, I know--many people don't want to know the background if it will ruin their personal interpretation of a piece of art.  I'm a person who likes to know stuff, and as I looked at the chandeliers and boats full of baubles I was astonished and I really really wanted to know how he did it.  It's a personal preference, for sure, but I was disappointed that the wall text was never anything more than the titles of the pieces.

But the good news is that Friend enjoyed himself.  I don't think he'll start frequenting gallery openings on his own, but he's definitely realized that "art" can be more than pictures in frames.  That's a pretty good start for my first mission, right?