This was my first Tuesday morning trip to the Naples Botanical Garden this season and I knew there was a glass exhibit. Every tourist season the Garden has sculptures of world renowned artists placed throughout the Garden to enhance the artistic nature of the plantings. Our son and his wife are visiting and they both love glass so I was excited to explore this years’ exhibit with them.

What an exciting surprise when we entered the lushly planted boardwalk that leads to the ticketing windows. There in the center of the small pond on the left, the first place eyes stop when entering, was the Cavorting Clown Fountain. What fun to be visually pulled into the movement, to hear the hint of giggles as clowns scramble up a spiral tube – sometimes losing their balance only to climb back up.

Then we turned around to look where a stream travels into the garden, feeding a wide variety of lush tropical and subtropical plants. And there, scrambling out from under the protective leaves where they spend their nights while performing here, were the Jesters on Branch.

Whenever I take or edit photographs, composition seems to be my first consideration. With these the sculptures themselves create the composition with their sense of artistic movement and placement among the plant life.

The artists is Hans Godo Frabel who is an accomplished glass blower and forms his glass sculptures with heat (up to 3,500 degrees F), blown air and various tools. These opaque sculpture are sand blasted to create tiny indentations that create the illusion that the glass has a whitish tint. That is the technical information – what amazes me is the movement and creative composition of the sculptures.

I have more delightful sculptures to share so don’t wander far from this blog.