Imagine Museum: An Exploration of Blown Glass Art

Imagine Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida is a glass collection which features glass art work by emerging artists and famous glass blowers, like Dale Chihuly. This glass museum opened in 2018 and invites visitors to roam through the history of glass art. Through nine galleries, your imagination will wander from figures well-known to the human mind to abstract forms. The glass collection includes hand blown glass art, cast glass, painted pieces, and hot sculpted glass. We absolutely loved this museum, and the only thing that could have made it better is if they offered glass blowing to the public. We spent a morning there for Free Museum Day. Here’s why you should explore Imagine Museum, too.

St. Petersburg has been reinventing itself the last few years with new condos, restaurants, boutiques, and the University of South Florida’s medical campus. The Sunshine City now also includes seven distinct art districts. I was so excited to have a free day to take advantage of Smithsonian’s Museum Day, a day when participating museums around the country offer free admission to patrons. It’s always a great day to see some of the museums we haven’t had a chance to visit yet.

The day dawned bright and clear. My camera and phone batteries charged, I made a hearty breakfast, and we headed out for the 45-minute drive to St. Pete. I had an ambitious day in mind (which came together beautifully!) – explore the glass collection at Imagine Museum, wander the Western and wildlife art at The James Museum, and finish the day browsing through art history at the Museum of Fine Arts. These were only three of the places participating in Museum Day throughout the Tampa Bay area. We always feel blessed to have all of these culturally aware cities nearby and enjoy the arts – including theater and music – as often as possible.

What is glass art?

Simply put, glass art is art work made entirely or mostly out of glass. We typically of it in terms of pieces of art, such as what we would see in a museum. However, glass art can include jewelry, windows, and dinnerware. Glass artists make glass artwork in many ways, for instance, by hand blowing, hot sculpting, casting, painting, or laminating. Imagine Museum showcases examples of all styles of glass art.

What is hand blown glass?

Glassblowing is a technique used to form glass art work. A glassblower inflates molten glass by using a blow pipe. Artisans in the 1st century BCE first developed this technique. Modern glass artists still use many of the same techniques today, mainly when creating decorative art. Glassblowing can be further divided into two different kinds – free-blowing, the method many people most often think of when they think of hand blown glass, and mold blowing. In mold blowing, the glass artist blows the glass into a mold rather than forming the work of art by hand as one does in free-blowing.

What kind of glass can be blown?

Glassblowers use two kinds of glass. The first, soda lime glass or soft glass, is the one most often used in glassblowing because it melts at a lower temperature. Manufacturers also use soft glass in making windows, jars, bowls, and other everyday items. Borosilicate glass, or hard glass, is physically stronger than soda lime glass so is often used to create cookware, telescope mirrors, and laboratory equipment such as beakers and test tubes.

What is a glass sculpture?

A glass sculpture is another name for glass art or glass artwork. A glass artist creates glass sculptures using a variety of methods, such as those mentioned above. The most famous glass sculptures in the world include Cascade (Adelaide Botanical Gardens in Australia), Fireworks of Glass (Childrens Museum in Indianapolis), the woven glass kimonos created by Markow and Norris, and the Murano glass of Venice.

Different Kinds of Glass Art

As mentioned before, glass artists create glass art in a number of ways, giving rise to many different kinds of glass art. They use three main kinds of glass to create their artwork – hot glass, warm glass, and cold glass.

Hot glass involves heating glass in a furnace to temperatures around 2000 degrees. Glassblowers used hot glass to create blown glass, casted glass, and glass sculptures.

Warm glass is created by heating glass to between 1250 and 1600 degrees. Artists use warm glass to create slumped glass, bent glass, pate de verre, kiln casted glass, and fused glass.

Cold glass refers to any technique used on the glass when it is not hot or warm. These techniques might include polishing, etching, grinding, and engraving.

Oftentimes, an artist will used two or more kinds of glass to create a piece of art. For instance, an artist might create a piece of art from cast glass (hot glass) and then polish (cold glass) the piece.

About Imagine Museum

Imagine Museum opened in 2018 and occupies two floors – a total of 48,000 square feet – of its building on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg. The first floor contains nine galleries of glass artwork. The second floor contains special exhibits. The second floor was closed when we visited for Museum Day so we were not able to see the special virtual reality exhibit. The museum houses a glass collection of about 1,500 pieces, of which approximately 500 are on display. Visitors help support the museum through donations, admission, and purchases made in the museum’s gift shop. It hosts several special exhibits throughout the year and is available to rent for private functions.

Imagine Museum is open seven days a week. The museum offers special ticket pricing for Florida residents and on Thursdays. Check their website for the latest offers and exhibits.

Where to Stay Near Imagine Museum

St. Petersburg offers a ton of options for hotels and is the perfect place to stay when visiting the Imagine Museum. For budget accommodations, we love The Inn on Third. Besides an amazing location and wonderful boutique vibe, this hotel offers complimentary continental breakfast. For luxury accommodations, we love the historic Birchwood though if you prefer to stay in a chain hotel, you can’t go wrong with the Hyatt Place St. Petersburg Downtown.

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