Catchup: Chihuly at Cheekwood

My first exposure to Vegas was walking into the Bellagio lobby to check into our room for my 21st birthday celebration (thanks again R&M!) and being in awe of the blown glass flower display on the ceiling. 

I found out at some point that these works of art were created by Dale Chihuly and the name stuck around in my head.  When reading in the local magazines that Chihuly glass exhibits were coming to three locations in Nashville, I knew we had to see them.  We took advantage of a free day at the cities main downtown art museum, "The Frist," to check out one of the displays with some visitors from Florida.  They had a number of pieces in all different shapes, sizes, and colors.  I was obsessed with them all.  Unfortunately, they have a strict no-photography policy, complete with guards at every turn, so we didn't get to capture any of the awesomeness. 

Luckily, I got the chance to go to "Chihuly at Cheekwood."  Cheekwood is a huge botanical gardens in one of my favorite areas of Nashville where this next exhibit is being held.  I have actually been twice now as it's an ideal experience for entertaining out of town guests.  When you arrive, you are given a map of the gardens with a list of all the glass displays locations and descriptions to help you navigate through a self-tour.  We were able to take pictures of the majority of the exhibits with the exception of a few housed inside a museum on the property (one of them being my favorite, go figure). 

Some of the other neat features of the botanical gardens included floating picture frames and, of course, flowers. 

There's also an event at Cheekwood where you can go at night to see all of the pieces lit up.  I can only imagine how neat that would be!