Pensacola's waterfront to transform into 'Poseidon's Garden' with glass art installation

Troy Moon, Pensacola News Journal
·2 min read

Poseidon's Garden, filled with vibrant colored orbs and elegant, wave-like spikes, is expected to wash ashore at Pensacola Bay, filling Community Maritime Park with a kaleidoscopic panoply of dazzling splendor, a glass bouquet worthy of the Greek god of the sea, earthquakes, and, for some reason, horses.

The art installation from the First City Art Center is part of Pensacola's Foo Foo Festival citywide arts and culture celebration, Nov. 2-13 at venues and locations across the city.

Poseidon's Garden will be open for free public viewing for the duration of the Foo Foo Festival and will feature 300 original glass pieces - 150 spikes, 150 orbs. The pieces were created noted Pensacola glass artists Joe Hobbs, First City Art Center glass director Connor Baldwin, and members Cory Goodale and Cody Atkinson. The public unveiling of Poseidon's Garden takes place at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2.

"We wanted something that would be breathtaking and as colorful as possible," said Baldwin, who likened the intended experience to entering Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory candy land. "It's going to look great, and you should be able to see it from a distance." (Don't try to eat the glass. It's not candy. And yes, some people do have to be told. Have you seen people on the Internet these days?)

First City Art Center Executive Director Bart Hudson inspects a few of the hundreds of hand-blown glass ornaments created by Connor Baldwin and Cory Goodale to make the Poseidon's Garden exhibit. The public art exhibition will be located at the Community Maritime Park as part of the annual Foo Foo Fest in downtown Pensacola from Nov. 2-13.
First City Art Center Executive Director Bart Hudson inspects a few of the hundreds of hand-blown glass ornaments created by Connor Baldwin and Cory Goodale to make the Poseidon's Garden exhibit. The public art exhibition will be located at the Community Maritime Park as part of the annual Foo Foo Fest in downtown Pensacola from Nov. 2-13.

Some of the glass orbs are up to 18 inches in diameter and the spikes are 3 to 6 feet high. The artists began working on the project mid-summer.

First City Art Center director Bart Hudson said the glass art installation "is intended to remind us of the beauty and bounty of our local waterways."

The original plan was to have the glass pieces rising from the shoreline waters of Pensacola Bay at the Community Maritime Park, but there were concerns about actually putting the installation in the water - namely concerns over glass breaking.

Now, it will be on and near the shoreline - a large swath of land filled with a garden of glass.

Related: Foo Foo Festival announces $500,000 grant pool for 10th anniversary event

"We wanted to combine the pieces with nature," Baldwin said. "We think it will be spectacular, especially in the sunlight."

The installation will be illuminated at night.

The pieces will be connected to the ground with metal stakes.

"I'm just happy to be involved in something this big," Goodale said. "It's definitely the biggest glass project I've ever worked on. It's been challenging but I definitely learned a lot."

The installation is funded through a grant from the Foo Foo Festival.

The First City Art Center's "Little Dragon" mobile glassblowing studio will be onsite during the unveiling ceremony to perform a live glassblowing demonstration.

Details: Blown-Glass Beauty By the Bay With the First City Art Center - Foo Foo Festival.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: First City Art Center glass art installation part of Foo Foo Festival