The Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, FloridaThe Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida boasts the largest permanent collection of glass art work created by famed artist Dale Chihuly: The Chihuly Collection.  The Morean Arts Center is a non-profit organization that is comprised of four locations in St. Petersburg, including the Chihuly Collection.  We were fortunate to visit three of the four locations, all but the Center for Clay, which we intend to visit the next time we are in the area.  We were quite taken with all of the art we saw while visiting these fabulous collection of art.

I have long been a fan of Dale Chihuly and his breathtaking masterpieces created from glass.  I’ve always admired his sculpture that greets visitors entering the Cincinnati Art Museum, and we also had a chance to visit the Chihuly exhibit at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum.  So you can imagine my excitement when I heard about the Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg.  I just knew that I had to see it, and I’m so glad we did…it was one of my family’s favorite field trips that we had while visiting Florida.

The Chihuly CollectionVisiting the Chihuly Collection was a magical experience for my whole family, we were all captivated by the beautiful, funky, unique, awe-inspiring glass sculptures.  The glass masterpieces in the Chihuly Collection stand on podiums, hang from ceilings, adorn walls, and are even perched in a row boat.  It is so much to take in!  What I was not expecting at this museum was the lack of barriers.  You cannot touch any of the glass art of course, but you can get pretty close to all of the pieces.  The ability to be in such close proximity to these amazing glass sculptures was a pretty special experience for all of us.  This museum left an impression on all of us, and has left me with a desire to search out other Chihuly pieces and exhibits in future travels.  Check out the pictures from our visit below, and be sure to make this a stop on your next trip to the Tampa Bay area!

The Chihuly Collection ::

Chihuly Collection 5

Chihuly Collection 4

Chihuly Collection 1

Chihuly Collection 2

Chihuly Collection 3

Chihuly Collection 8

Chihuly Collection 6

Chihuly Collection 7

The Chihuly Collection is located at 719 Central Avenue in St Petersburg, FL

Florida Vacation 2015:  For our Summer Vacation this year we spent ten days in Florida, exploring the Tampa Bay and Gulf area with our family.   There was an unusual amount of rain while we were there, but fortunately for us there’s plenty of fun to be had indoors.   We spent quite a bit of our trip exploring museums, an aquarium, breweries, restaurants and more!   I’ll be sharing our Florida vacation adventures in a series of posts in the hopes that they will inspire you to plan a trip to Florida for your family!  Many thanks to my friends at the St. Pete’s & Clearwater Visitor’s Bureau for helping me plan this trip.  So many memories were created while we were there!

For more posts about things to do in Florida visit my Florida Travel Archives.

Disclaimer:  My family was given passes to the Morean Arts Center for review purposes, but the opinions are 100% my own.