When I was looking for a second museum to visit in St. Pete, Google suggested the Imagine Museum, not far from my hotel or the Chihuly exhibit. When I clicked on the link and saw it was all about glass, well, the decision to visit was easy.
It was two floors of wondering “how the heck did they DO that?” And, of course, lots of photos. The curators at this museum have clearly designed it for photography, with lights and shadows making easy work of it for me. (The Chihuly exhibit, on the other hand, puts lights every where, and it makes photography way more challenging!)
Hands down, my favorite piece was this one, a series of interconnected bubbles, with all kinds of things inside, both optical illusions and real glass elements. It was tabletop-sized, maybe 18x18x18 inches, so it would fit quite nicely on a table in my mythical house.
Here’s a detail of the piece. I could have spend an hour looking just at the different angles, it was so enticing.
Speaking of details, this piece was another favorite, both for the color palette and the design. Again, I don’t know how artists do this with glass, but I certainly enjoy the end result.
One of the second-floor exhibits was a series of whimsical spacecraft with little chairs inside. This was my favorite of the half-dozen pieces, because I could imagine myself in a lounge chair on a spaceship, oh, so easily.
This piece, one of the hallmarks of the museum, was simply riveting to view. From any angle, when you looked inside, there were views that seemingly stretched to infinity.
Here’s a closeup so you can see what I mean by infinity. It uses mirrors but you can’t really spot them, the sculpture is so dense and so well-done.
If you’re looking to spend a few hours being awestruck by the creativity of human beings, and you’re in or near St. Pete (FL), the Imagine Museum is worth a visit.
We all have an obligation to daydream. We have an obligation to imagine. It is easy to pretend that nobody can change anything, that society is huge and the individual is less than nothing. But the truth is individuals make the future, and they do it by imagining that things can be different. (Neil Gaiman)
Wow. I’ve always loved art glass, and once, long ago before I realized how expensive it was, I hoped to collect it. Maybe I’ll get down there someday to see this!
Spectacular! I appreciated your comment about lighting in so many art exhibits and museums. In so many, the lighting is too bright and/or the exhibits (especially text) is behind shiny plastic coverings, making them very difficult to photograph.
Just found your blog from Dawn’s blog … Change is Hard.
I wish you had (maybe you do?) a list of your blog posts in order by date. I’d love to go back and start from the beginning.
The little spaceship, yes … glad I don’t smoke anymore or I’d be sitting here for days looking at these photos!
Thanks Annie. š
Hi, Ann, it took me a while to figure out how to do blog posts by date, but I did it. You’ll now spot an Archive listing in the right sidebar, and you can use that to time travel back to May 2016, when I first became an Alto owner. Thanks for the suggestion to do this, it’s something I didn’t realize would be so useful!
I love the little spaceship.
I second the commet regarding the Dali Museum. It is wonderful! I had been there years ago, so, when Chuck and I were on our way to Cuba a few years ago, we specifically detoured to St. Pete to go to this museum. We got to see all the exhibits in the new building, which is even better than before.
Wish I didn’t have to go all the way to Florida to see this, or I’d be there this afternoon. Thanks!
Miss seeing you in SC this year, but love keeping up thru your updates here. I had a trip planned to St Pete thus week, but had a schedule conflict, and had to cancel. Next time hope we will connect.
The artist are so extremely talented, and to make something so unusual or detailed out of glass is just amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us. I loved the post!
Hi Annie,
Glad you enjoyed your time in St. Pete– Wished we knew you were here, we would’ve had you for dinner!!
Safe Travels,
Joni and John
We’ll be at Fort DeSoto in Feb, so will plan both of those museums! The Dali museum is wonderful, and I hear wonderful things about the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. We also did the Sunken Garden in St. Pete which was fun.
Oh how I love this post! Makes me wish I was a stoner:). Also, the bubble piece reminded me of an old stoner named Tom Noddy (aka the bubble man or guy). I think he made it on to Johnny Carson or the like way back when. What he could do with soap bubbles was amazing and he used this tool to teach kids about math/physics of all things. And before I sign off, thanks for the Neil Gaiman quote. That is going to make my day. Maybe an intention for the new year!
I think Tom Noddy might have been the guy who showed us how to make cubical bubbles once, while sitting in Pete and Toshi Seeger’s cabin. There was a wave of circus arts people who came through the Clearwater sloop community in the early, to mid 80’s.