Crazy art brings out best in odd creatures.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Odd isn't necessarily ugly. And in the case of "Oddwater," the latest exhibit to open at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, strange often equals beautiful, regardless of whether you're talking about marine life or the artificial habitat that surrounds these funny-looking fish.

"(Everybody) has their own perception of strangeness," explains spokeswoman Cindy Hanson. "My favorite are the puffer fish - they're just so cute. Some of them look like they're smiling. They come right up to the glass and look at you. They're as fascinated with you as you are with them."

Marine creatures such as the amazing cuttlefish - an animal with green blood, three hearts and the ability to change color in an instant - are the focus of this latest exhibit, which opens this weekend and marks the start of summer hours for the aquarium, but some visitors might be just as impressed with the faux corrals surrounding them. That's because of an unusual partnership between the aquarium and the nearby glass studio, the Edge Art Gallery, which resulted in more than two tons worth of glass sculpture being added to the exhibit.

"We were trying to figure out a way we could (display) weird animals," recalled Kevin Clifford, assistant curator of fishes and invertebrates. "(Aquarist) Warren Shead walked into a glass studio and said, `Why can't we do this out of glass?'?"

The answer, it turns out, was that glass would make a fine habitat for the fish and serve as the perfect complement to the weird sea life on display. The two aquarists approached Ryan Bledsoe, the owner of the Edge Gallery, and it's fair to say he was a tad bit excited about the prospect of making glass sculptures for seahorses and lion fish.

"They said, we want, like Dr. Seuss crazy, underwater (sculptures) and I said, `OK, I can do crazy,'?" Bledsoe recalled. "We just got as crazy and as weird as we possibly could."

Bledsoe's creations include vases with holes in them, multi-colored "crackle" glass plates and undulating forms that look like giant sea shells.

Bledsoe supplied all of the glass work for the exhibit for free. He estimates he spent $50,000 to $60,000 of his own money, some of which he will recoup in the form of gift shop sales. All of the pieces in the exhibit are for sale. They range in price from $100 to more than $1,000. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the aquarium.

Aside from some issues surrounding the cleaning of the delicate faux corals, glass turned out to be a more than adequate material for fish habitat, Clifford says. All of the pieces were tested for toxicity, and glass proved to be resistant to algae and other underwater grit.

"Fish don't need to have something that looks exactly like what (they have) in nature," Clifford says. "They need structure that they can use to set up territory. As long as the pieces weren't sharp or poisonous, those were our main criteria."

Some of the unusual sea life that visitors can glimpse at "Oddwater" include the chambered nautilus, which is notable for its unusual movement. It uses a sort of jet propulsion to pull water into the mantle cavity of its shell and then blow it out the siphon beneath the tentacles. There's also a venomous lion fish and several species of puffer fish including the bridal burr-fish, the porcupine fish and the dog-faced puffer, which looks a bit like a harbor seal. There's also a sting ray petting zoo featuring harmless de-barbed rays, and a crawl-through tank stocked with "lookdowns." The silvery round fish have unusually blunt foreheads.

Blown glass isn't the only art visitors will encounter at "Oddwater." Muralist Michael Cole has added his touch to the exhibit with paintings of some of the odd fish that were too big or rare to be shown at the exhibit.

The amazing flashlight fish is expected to be one of the starring attractions at "Oddwater." The creature's glowing eyes are the result of bacteria that live inside a sac. At night, the animal's bright lights can be seen from up to 100 feet away. It is believed to be the brightest glow produced by a living organism.

But the glow of light reflecting off of hand-blown glass is still one of the most high-wattage elements of this exhibition. Even the guys in charge of the fish are impressed with the way the glass fused together, signaling that this could be the beginning of a beautiful and strange marriage between art and science at the aquarium.

"It's colorful and transparent and it plays a lot of tricks on the way the light comes through (the tanks)," Clifford said. "The glass complemented the colors (of the fish) and everything became that much more striking. It just kind of glows. Everything really pops."

Oregon Coast aquarium

What: "Oddwater," the aquarium's newest special exhibit, runs through January 2010

Hours: Open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Labor Day weekend

Admission (includes exhibits): $14.25 for adults, $8.75 for youth, free for children 2 years old and younger

Information: Call [phone] or go to www.aquarium.org.