Afternoon with a Water View

As far as water views go, today's were both superb.

The first came courtesy of a woman I was interviewing at her home in Windsor Farms. "I thought it might be nice to do it here," she said, indicating two leather chairs in an alcove. "So you can enjoy the view."

Given the magnificence of the view, only a blind person or an idiot wouldn't have been thrilled. A curved window looked over the canal running at the edge of her property line. Behind that ran a train track and just to the left of the tracks was the James River.

People live like this?

Let's just say I took my time with the interview and after we finished, we sat there chatting about solving the world's problems while I admired the scenery. Much as I hated to leave, I knew I was in for another treat at the VMFA.

Today is the second day of the Chihuly installation of "Red Reeds" in the reflecting pool by the sculpture garden. After choosing lunch at Best Cafe, I took my tray outside for a front row seat for the installation.

Looking like red cattails, the varying heights of the red glass had been positioned between water lilies and lotus growing in the pool. The tips of the reeds varied from clear to dark. A steady procession of people walked up to the rail next to my ringside table to snap photos of the reeds.

As I sat there eating my turkey and swiss on herbed focaccia and Sprecher root beer, I was a little disappointed that no work was being done at the moment. Biting into a potato chip, it occurred to me that surely the workers, like me, were having lunch now.

So I decided to wait it out.

Sure enough, within half an hour, two men crossed into the cordoned-off area and began pulling on chest-high waders. Now we were talking.

With one female, straw-hatted member of Team Chihuly on the deck and two rubber-clad guys in the water, they proceeded to meticulously adjust the angle of the errant reeds. She would tell them which one was askew and they would painstakingly adjust it to her eye.

Since she was right there and I was right there, it wasn't long before we ended up talking. I learned that the glass is blown in Finland because of the enormous ovens that allow them to make bigger pieces.

Some of the reeds are ten feet tall.

What surprised me the most was that technically the reeds were all the same color, despite the fact that they seemed to vary from bright red to dark red. Turns out they all come from the same vat of color but it's the pulling of the material over a period that results in variations in the shades.

So they weren't all the same color, just all made from the same color of red glass. And that red is apparently a color not made in this country.

From my vantage point on the deck, I found the complementary colors of red glass against a background of green grass to be stunning. From my take as visitor to the VMFA, I found the installation of columns of red reeds in the reflecting pool to be inspired.

From my perspective of an art lover in Richmond, I found the continuing brilliance of the museum's choices to be world class.

Truly fine art at its finest.