A Morning at Phipps Conservatory - Chihuly Style

On the Saturday after Christmas, December 26, 2009, Dad and I traveled into Pittsburgh to visit one of my favorite places in the City - Phipps Conservatory. I'm not sure how long the Conservatory has existed in Pittsburgh, but it's been around for quite some time. It's located in Schenley Park, just across a small bridge from the Carnegie Library and Museum complex.

The Conservatory is immaculately maintained and consists of a couple dozen "rooms" where plants of different varieties are amazingly well kept. Some of my favorite rooms are the orchid room, the fruit tree room, the desert room and the Japanese garden. Also, for many years, the Conservatory has adhered to a program of doing several big "shows" a couple times in the year -- a Spring flower show and a Christmas seasonal show -- when special plants are brought in and planted among the permanent collections.

Additionally, several years ago, the Conservatory began to bring art shows into the Conservatory setting. The first such exhibit was of Chihuly glass. It was an amazing hit. The Conservatory was packed to capacity with guests during the entire period of the exhibit -- which was originally scheduled to last about four months but was extended to six months because of its popularity.

Chihuly is an internationally known glass artist who hails from Tacoma, Washington. His glass has been displayed in special settings all over the world, including Venice and Paris. His

pieces tend to be extremely large and colorful. He also has done a number of installation exhibits designed for conservatory settings all over the US.

The Chihuly exhibit at the Phipps Conservatory was fantastic. I saw it two times -- once during the day and a second time at night. Both visits were wonderful. And, at the conclusion of the exhibit, the Conservatory had raised enough money to purchase several

Chihuly pieces to keep on display permanently. Those permanent pieces are pictured here.