Dale Chihuly Glass Artist

Dale Chihuly – Glass Artist

Some of the most amazing glass sculptures in the world have been created by Dale Chihuly. Very few glass artists beyond the Pacific Northwest have gained the recognition for their work as he has, and he is recognized as one of the best known glass artists in the world. Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Chihuly has had a love of the beauty of nature – flowers, gardens, the region around Tacoma. Chihuly’s brother died when Chihuly was 16 and his father died when he was 17. Dale had a very close relationship with his mother who gave him a great love of nature and an appreciation of the environment. From the brilliantly colored marbles that he collected as a young boy and the pieces of Japanese glass floats that he collected along the beach, he learned to appreciate glass. Also, fluidity of water has played a major influence in his work.

Dale Chihuly was studying interior design at the University of Washington when he was introduced to the medium of glass. He was in his mid-twenties when he saw glass being blown for the first time. From that point on he wanted to be a glass blower. He went to Alaska to work as a fisherman in order to earn money to attend the University of Wisconsin at Madison to study glass blowing with Harvey Littleton. He earned a Master’s degree there and then went on to earn a second master’s degree at the Rhode Island School of Design. There he won a Fulbright Scholarship which he used to study in Italy where he learned the Italian method of working glass in a team. Chihuly was the first American apprentice at Venice’s Venini Glass Factory. He came back to the United States and began a glass program at the Rhode Island School of Design.

1 Dale Chihuly has spent the majority of his life in the Tacoma area. In 1971, Dale along with Anne Gould Hauberg and her husband John Hauberg founded the Pilchuck School in Tacoma. Today this school attracts the world’s best glass artists.

Unfortunately, in 1976 Chihuly was in a head-on collision in England. He lost his left eye and almost the other, leaving him with a lack of depth perception. He continued blowing glass for a few years but he hurt his shoulder in 1979 when bodysurfing and had to give up glass blowing.

Chihuly works with a team to create his glass sculptures. Initially, he draws the concept, and then he orchestrates the creation of his pieces. Almost 100 people work for him now including glass blowers, artists, and fabricators. Chihuly orchestrates the creation of his pieces. He cannot blow glass any more, but he is there providing artistic guidance as his team members blow and shape the glass.

Dale Chihuly’s pieces are organic. He draws his inspiration from nature, flowers and water. He broke boundaries with his designs and his pieces have become larger and more complex. Chihuly sees a connection between glass and water, and water intensifies color. The physical properties of water are closely related to glass. In its molten form, glass moves in a manner similar to water. Chihuly gets the glass to move in waves or swells similar to water’s movement.

2 Chihuly has found that the Pacific Northwest has a less structured art environment than in the eastern United States so he has tended to return to Seattle and Tacoma to create his work. Also, Puget Sound provides a connection to water.

Each of his exhibits is designed for the architectural space where the exhibit will be installed. Many of his exhibits are outside installations and they also take the exterior environment into account. His pieces become part of the environment.

Some of his exhibits include: Tacoma Art Museum New York Botanical Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic garden, Coral Gables, Florida Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Missouri The Louvre Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Victoria and Albert Museum, London The Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, North Carolina

His series include: Macchia brilliantly colored flower-like forms that were place on pedestals Persians incorporated forms based on ancient and historical glass prototypes Ikebana based on the Japanese art form Seaform water influence Mille Fiori a thousand flowers

U.S. governors have named him “America’s first National Living Treasure for his role in transforming a dying craft to living art form”.1 Dale Chihuly has been criticized because he doesn’t blow his own pieces – his team does. But he is there initially designing the piece and orchestrating its creation. Chihuly has broken boundaries with his glass sculptures and these sculptures amaze those who view his work. Just stop in the Mint Museum Uptown Foyer to enjoy the fluid lines of one of his chandeliers.

1 Mint Museum of Craft and Design

3 4 Bibliography

Dale Chihuly website; http://www.chihuly.com

“Dale Chihuly: A Selective Biography” reprinted from The Glass Art Society Journal:2003

Hushka, Rock, director of Tacoma Art museum, Dale Chihuly A Celebration; Abrams, New York; 2011

Mint Museum of Craft and Design Installation; http://www.mintmuseum.org; 7/24/99 to 1/9/2000

“The Glass Artist”; CBS News; February 11, 2009

Zax, David “The Nature of Glass”, Smithsonian Magazine; 2007