I am not drawn to glass the way I am stone, paper and metal, let’s say, but I do find the glass making process quite astounding to watch. We took our children to the Dale Chihuly collection in St. Pete yesterday and watched a live demonstration of glass blowing. It was intensely hot in the studio, and there must have been twenty steps, at least, to the process. The glassblowers moved deftly through the studio like they were performing a well-rehearsed dance. They handled heavy, piping hot equipment with grace and ease and patience. It was kind of amazing to watch this small chunk of molten glass morph into an enormous shell-like vase. Magic. Chihuly’s work is best seen in nature, he says so himself. Set among flora and fauna, the acid green tendrills come to life, and look like they’ve sprung from the ground beneath them. His colours are wickedly intense, garish even, and the forms are beautiful and grotesque. The work isn’t for everyone, but you can’t not see the awe in it.