Can you believe I have lived in Boulder my whole life, and I only just recently went to the Denver Botanic Gardens? Pretty crazy, right? I often find it hard to escape my Boulder Bubble for much, but I'm glad I did for this. Right now there is an exhibit featuring the amazing glass art of Dale Chihuly. If you've ever been to the Bellagio in Vegas, he's the guy who did that gorgeous glass flower ceiling there. The Chihuly Exhibit is up for just another month or so, but if you can get down there, I highly recommend it. Hopefully I can drag myself to Denver again before it's gone ;)

*I thought it looked like a collection of planets.*

Of course the visual appeal is amazing, and if you like pretty things, you will love this exhibit. But what really struck me about this is how much patience and passion Mr. Chihuly must have. Each individual piece of glass takes time, focus and devotion. I found this quote on his website:

“The process is so wonderfully simple, yet so mystifying.”

*My photographer man - the shadows those made were pretty amazing!*

It really is just different colors of glass, so it is "simple", but each piece is unique, even if you use the same colors or techniques, and I'm sure that one slight misstep will cause either a bit of a disaster (it is glass after all) or a beautiful mistake. I don't think that someone who didn't love what they did would say this.

Now I say that I am impressed with his patience. He must spend weeks if not months on some of the larger pieces. I don't think that I would have the endurance to do what he does. But it is not my passion. If he hated the glass, he wouldn't be successful like he is today. Because this is his passion, it doesn't matter if it takes every hour of every day to create the next masterpiece, it will be completely worth it. May we all be so lucky to find something in which we can spend every waking moment completely engrossed.

I feel extremely lucky to be able to witness art and beauty in this world. How crazy to think that each person is unique, and one different event in their life could have been the difference between living a "normal" life, and being able to share their work with the world. A huge thank you to Dale Chihuly, for reminding me that the world is still a wondrous place, full of beauty, where following your passion is worth everything.