Seattle Gains Artsy New Attraction

Most tourists flock to Seattle Center to check out the view from the iconic Space Needle or to rock out at the Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum. But now there’s a colorful new reason to visit the Emerald City’s popular entertainment complex: Chihuly Garden and Glass.

This long-term exhibition of Dale Chihuly’s vibrant art-glass sculptures opened last month on a 1.5-acre plot next to the Space Needle. Chihuly’s distinctive style is familiar to many from his installations in places like the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia. Visitors begin inside, where darkened galleries display large-scale Chihuly installations like “Mille Fiori” (a garden made of glass) and a Persian ceiling where luminous hues bloom overhead. In another gallery, a boat laden with fancifully colored balls seems to glide across a black mirror lake.

Once you step outside into the garden, living plants and flowers mingle with Chihuly’s creations — tall, skinny stalks that look like birthday candles; sinuously curving vines and bulbs; and a spiky, brilliantly green sculpture that stretches toward the sky as though to mimic the Space Needle behind it.

Standard adult admission is $24, with discounts for seniors and children 12 and under. Joint admission to the Space Needle is available. You can also pay an additional fee to come back to Chihuly Garden and Glass after dark, to see the outdoor exhibitions lit up against a night sky.