&
Art
Fascinating clear glass
tendrils welcome guests
across the threshold of
The Umstead, a AAA Five
Diamond hotel, restaurant
and spa.
Resembling, in an abstract way, a heron
dipping its beak into the water, the piece
was named “Ardea Figura,” or figure of
the heron, by its creator Dale Chihuly,
America’s preeminent
hand-blown glass
sculptor.
Guests immediately see the sculpture
upon entering the lobby. It draws them
into the warmth of the Lobby Lounge
toward a sunroom, the terrace, the pool,
the wedding lawn, the lake and its center-piece,
the fountain.
“It was intentional,” says Marcelle Kick,
The Umstead’s Hotel Design Coordinator.
“The design theme, from the beginning,
was art in nature,” Kick says. “When they
started to put the collection together, they
really wanted the outdoors reflected inside
in terms of the artwork, the colors and the
overall feel that you get with the peace and
tranquility of the setting where the hotel is.
It all works together as sort of a marriage of
the outdoors and the inside.”
The Umstead’s owners, Ann and
Jim Goodnight, traveled to Tacoma,
Washington, to visit the Chihuly team after
commissioning it to create a piece similar
to one that Ann Goodnight had seen at
the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York
City. While in Washington, they visited
several galleries and brought back a few
pieces now exhibited in the Fireplace Room
and the Promenade, but primarily The
Umstead collection is the work of North
Carolina artists.
“Ardea Figura,” or figure of a heron, by glass
sculptor Dale Chihuly, left, is the centerpiece
of The Umstead Hotel and Spa’s Lobby Lounge.
Harpists perform during high tea in the
Fireplace Room, right. 16
WBM may 2013