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Dale Chihuly: Through The Looking Glass
Incredible glass sculptor Dale Chihuly has a new exhibition on now at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Through The Looking Glass includes installations such as Lime Green Icicle Tower, installed in the Shapiro Courtyard; a Persian Wall; a Chandelier room with six examples, including the Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia Chandelier; and a room containing a magnificent Mille Fiori installation that is nearly sixty feet long.
Over the course of his career, Dale Chihuly has revolutionized the art of blown glass, moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture and establishing the use of glass—inherently a fragile but also magical material—as a vehicle for installation and environmental art. This exhibition of new and archival works represents the breadth and scope of the artist’s creative vision over the last four decades.
Although his work ranges from the single vessel to indoor and outdoor site-specific installations, Chihuly is best known for his multi-part blown compositions. Based in Seattle, Washington, Chihuly works with a team of glassblowers, a process that allows him to work on a grand scale and to explore and experiment with color, design, and assemblage. The exhibition provides an opportunity to see and explore the full range of his artistic achievements by immersing visitors in the beautiful and enchanting environments created through his extraordinary vision.
Through The Looking Glass runs through August 7, 2011. To see more of Dale Chihuly’s work, visit Chihuly.com.
Dale Chihuly: Glass Sculpture
More incredible work by renowned American glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. “Chihuly is most frequently lauded for revolutionizing the studio glass movement by expanding its original premise of the solitary artist working in a studio environment to encompass the notion of collaborative teams and a division of labor within the creative process. However, Chihuly’s contribution extends well beyond the boundaries both of this movement and even the field of glass: his achievements have influenced contemporary art in general. Chihuly’s practice of using teams has led to the development of complex, multipart sculptures of dramatic beauty that place him in the leadership role of moving blown glass out of the confines of the small, precious object and into the realm of large-scale contemporary sculpture.”
Chihuly’s are on display in more than 200 museums worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. He is currently exhibiting at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, The Gallery, CityCenter, Las Vegas, Nevada, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Frist Center for the Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, and the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee.
To see more of Chihuly’s work, visit Chihuly.com.
See more glass art by Canadian flameworker Brad Jesson
DAF Group Feature: Vol. 3
Your Monday Mix – enjoy!
Glass Sculptor: Dale Chihuly
Today I stumbled upon the fantastical glass sculptures of Dale Chihuly. Chihuly was born in Tacoma Washington on September 20, 1941. He holds a Master of Science in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a Master of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 1968, he studied glass in Venice on a Fulbright Fellowship and in 1971 founded the Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington.
After an auto accident in 1976 that blinded him in one eye, and then a body surfing mishap in 1979 where he dislocated his shoulder, Chihuly could no longer hold a glass blowing pipe and hired others to help realize his creations. In a 2006 interview with the Seatle Post Intelligencer he explains – “Once I stepped back, I liked the view,” allowing the artist to see the sculpture from more angles and anticipate problems faster. Chihuly views himself as “more choreographer than dancer, more supervisor than participant, more director than actor.”
The sculpture above is called Sea Blue and Green Tower. It stands 15 x 8 x 7’ and was on exhibit at the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum in 2008. With so many of Chihuly’s works on display in museums and galleries around the world, and frequent exhibitions, I’m bound to bump into one sooner or later. I just hope it’s sooner. To learn more, visit his website at Chihuly.com.
Sources:DaleChihuly.com, Wikipedia, Seattle PI