Art lovers held their breath Wednesday when hail pounded parts of Dallas, including the Dallas Arboretum, where the glass sculptures of the Chihuly exhibit made for tempting targets. Not all of them survived the storm.
During Wednesday’s severe storms, hail as big as baseballs chipped and damaged six pieces of the glass artwork at the pond.
"I was horrified, all the work that goes into custom work--it takes so much time and effort," Christi Rushing, whose family has been arboretum members for more than 30 years, said.
Luckily for the arboretum, replacement pieces were stored in an Arlington warehouse.
On Friday, it took workers just a half an hour to restore the artwork.
"We saw it on the news that it had been damaged and I was amazed when we came up and it's back," Don Grymes, a visitor said.
The arboretum says the fact that were prepared for a storm like Wednesday's made replacing this part of the exhibit a little bit easier.
"We knew bringing this exhibit here this was a possibility, that's why we had the additional pieces in storage,” Wendy Rentz, the Dallas Arboretum spokesperson said. “But, six pieces out of thousands? We're very lucky."
The Chihuly Exhibit runs until November 5.
