Tessa Spanton SWA Artist, tutor, writer



TESSA SPANTON SWA ARTIST, WRITER AND TUTOR

Welcome to my blog.
This is where I write about some of the things that inspire my work,
news of exhibitions and works in progress

Saturday 11 February 2012

Chihuli in London

CHIHULI 5th Dec - 31st March UPDATE now extended till 21st April
at the Halcyon Gallery 144-146, New Bond Street, London W1 2PF

I would like to give a big thank you to the Halcyon Gallery for giving me permission to photograph these beautiful works.


The Mille Fiori Garden fills a whole room and is 24ft long. It was made specially for this exhibition. The photo below really doesn't do it justice.
I came up the stairs and through the door (at the back of the photo) The lighting in the room was dimmer than in the previous space and the glass garden glowed with rich saturated colours.
The colours and reflections in the glass danced as I moved round it and the relationships of the colours and sculptural shapes changed.






There were Chihuli paintings too in this exhibition and this illuminated glass panel shown below.
There was also a video of him at work. Fire and sand and the huge energy of Chihuli and his team combine to create huge flowing masses of molten glass. Skillfully and creatively handled. Now no longer molten and hot I find they convey something of the energy from which they were wrought. The paintings too seem alive with energy and movement.


I glimpsed the piece below through a doorway and from a distance and was drawn in by the electric effect of the blue and orange. This one as many of the pieces is like mysterious underwater life.




Cranberry and clear chandelier with part of the quartz and gold chandelier showing beyond.


The beautiful Waterford wall sconces above the door create patterns and colours on the wall.

The gold and quartz chandelier below reaches from floor to ceiling and can be viewed from above as well as floor level as here. It is made from hundreds of glass made pieces assembled on a metal frame.

These were some of my favourites out of 57 works/groups/installations.
Do go if you can as there is so much to explore and discover.
The following video is from Halcyon's website