Vision, Reflection, Glass!
Driving down Central Avenue it is difficult not to notice the large bright blue building on the 1900 block. It houses Imagine Museum. In this city of museums, it is easy to pass it by saying, “Oh, that’s that glass museum.” But have you been inside? It would not be overstating to say that this is a world-class collection. There are over 1600 pieces made by artists from twenty different countries with as many as 450 works on view at any one time.
My expertise is in photography and I admittedly know very little about glass, so it is difficult for me to even convey the wide variety of techniques and creativity displayed. It’s difficult to believe some of these works are even glass. There are exquisite examples of glass blowing, casting, slumping, fusing, laminating, and torch work. But does that even begin to illuminate how artist Anthony James is able to create Portal Icosahedron, a geometric globe formed of glass and titanium incorporating twenty triangular facets combined in such a way as to form a sculpture of perfect symmetry in three dimensions? It is mesmerizing to stare into its depths. It feels like staring into infinity.
Does it prepare you for the room housing 1000 Prayers for Compassion created by the founder of the Museum, Trish Duggan? The room features the word “Compassion” in purple neon lights illuminating an embankment of 1000 glass heads of the goddess of compassion. The surrounding walls feature quotes from the Dalai Lama, a definition of compassion, and an exhortation to be more compassionate.
This leads us to the overall theme of the Museum, to “inspire, uplift and educate.” They go out of their way to do this throughout the building. Inspirational quotes by world history greats like Albert Schweitzer, Kazuo Inamori, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, among others, are quoted both on the walls and on small cards that visitors are encouraged to take with them. In the lobby of the museum currently hang two large mosaics of glass created in collaboration by Trish Duggan and the Swedish artist Bertil Vallien. They are titled Human Rights, 2019 and Peace, 2020, and feature varied squares of symbols and animals illustrating these ideas as well as etched portraits and quotes from Nobel Prize winners and inspirational people. They are at once both beautiful and purposeful.
Not everything is quite so serious. There is a gallery of alien-inspired art by artists such as Czech artist Martin Janecky and Austrian-Irish artist Gottfried Helnwein who resides in Ireland. I even got my picture taken with an augmented alien.
Rik Allen makes wondrous sculptures made out of blown and cut glass with silver, steel, aluminum and copper that look like models of futuristic spacecraft. Oculus Gazer II, 2015 has two little tiny red lounge chairs installed under a glass dome, and gazing at them leads one to imagine oneself laying on it and gazing out at the galaxy.
Imagine Museum has one of the largest collections of contemporary glass art in the world. St. Petersburg is fortunate to have it in our city. You should visit.
It’s difficult to talk about the Imagine Museum without talking about Trish Duggan. She is a dynamo of energy and ideas and it is thanks to her vision and support that there even is an Imagine Museum. Her concepts, inspirations and art are spread throughout the galleries.
“There is no substitute for being positive and having a positive outlook. The most valuable asset we have is our imagination. This gives us the ability to create brighter futures and help mankind.”
-Trish Duggan
An accomplished artist herself, Duggan studied woodblock printing at Nanzan University in Japan and printmaking at the University of California Santa Barbara, before coming to Florida. Once here, she embraced the art of glassworking and studying with such local greats as Marlene Rose, Chuck Boux and Susan Gott.
In 2015, Duggan embraced glass-making in a concentrated way and has now created more than one thousand pieces of art. You see examples of her talent installed throughout the Museum. For example, the installation of 1000 Prayers for Compassion (cover). While studying in Japan she had been told that creating 1,000 Buddhas gave one a better chance at reaching Nirvana. A gallery filled with 1,000 glass heads created by her, is a compelling reflection of that.
Duggan is also an avid collector of glass art by creators from around the world. The Imagine Museum was created in 2018 to share these varied and exquisite works with the public. She teamed up with the Habatat Gallery, the oldest and largest glass gallery in the US, and in partnership with their President Corey Hampson has created one of the most significant collections of contemporary glass art in the world.
She is a human rights advocate and philanthropist who believes in the power of positivism to improve the lives of people throughout the world. The stated purpose of the institution is to uplift, inspire and educate and it does so by showcasing amazing artists, offering a stunning visual experience, and teaching about the transformative nature of glass.
Trish Duggan deserves her own star on the map of Florida’s Glass Coast. 
