Jellies

Hunter Museum and Tennssee Aquarium Team Up to Present

Come experience some of the best American studio glass as part of the special exhibition Jellies: Living Art. This unusual exhibition, on view at the Tennessee Aquarium, features jellyfish--some of nature’s most ethereal creatures--alongside breathtaking glass sculptures.

Before or after your visit to the Aquarium and Jellies: Living Art, visit the Hunter, where more spectacular glass awaits. The Tennessee Aquarium and Hunter Museum are linked by a walking corridor which leads guests through an outdoor sculpture garden and across a unique glass bridge.

See More Studio Glass at the Hunter

The United States is considered the birthplace of the studio glass movement. Traditionally, glass could only be made in factory settings, however, advances in technology in the mid-20th century allowed individual artists to be involved in all aspects of the process. Today an artist can blow glass alone or with just a small team of assistants.

The artists you will see at the Hunter use glass in different ways – as sculptures, as vessels and as ways to tell stories. Artists in the exhibit include Dale Chihuly, Stephen Rolfe Powell, William Morris, Catharine Newell among others. Over 20 artists are on view in the Hunter’s spectacular glass exhibition. In addition, several videos of the artists at work are available for viewing in the galleries.

Although no animals will reside at the Hunter, art installations at the Museum will extend and complement what visitors experience inside the Jellies exhibit in the Aquarium’s Ocean Journey building.

Exhibition at the Aquarium

In the exhibition Jellies: Living Art at the Aquarium, while jellyfish and studio glass may seem like a strange combination, they share many characteristics. These delicate and mysterious creatures of the deep have intrigued people and fueled artistic expression for centuries. Each species has a unique motion, rhythm, color and pattern. Guests will marvel at the way artists like world-renowned Dale Chihuly infuse glass with striking colors and patterns while creating works of art that appear to flow with a graceful motion and rhythm.

Works from Chihuly’s Macchia series will be on display at the Aquarium along with other stunning works from glass masters Stephen Powell, Cork Marcheschi and Thomas Spake.

“We have some interesting works of art to compliment the animal exhibits,” said Jackson Andrews, the Tennessee Aquarium's director of husbandry and operations. “I believe Aquarium visitors will be surprised and intrigued by the relationship of art and nature found in the exhibit."

See an interview with Stephen Powell.

Exhibition installation photos.

Header image: Stephen Rolfe Powell, Giverny Twillight Whipper (detail), 2008