March 14 was Holi, the Hindi Festival of Colors
Chihuly’s worldwide art glass installations stun the viewer. The size of the works is a part, as is the array of colors, transparency, and translucence. I thought Dale Chihuly blew glass, but I did not understand he is more of an architect, concertmaster, and visionary director.
I was introduced to his works at an exhibit at the Columbus, OH botanical gardens, and later visited the Tacoma, WA site of Chihuly displays. My most recent trip was to the Seattle Chihuly Art Museum and Garden.
We visited on one of those rare spring days in Seattle when the sky was cloudless and the sun was bright. The angle of the sun caused the iridescence of the pieces to shimmer. The transparent glass coating the deeply colored pieces — indigo, chartreuse, poppy red — glinted with diamond-like depth in the outside garden.
Dale Chihuly studied abroad at various sites known for their glasswork. The island of Murano in Venice has specialized in Venetian glass since before the eighth century. Glass-making was located on this island to guard its secrets. All the ingredients had to be imported by boat. It took many years of apprenticeship in glass-blowing to become an expert.
Chihuly also lived in Finland and developed Japanese forms. He spent years studying international styles.
His first display was inspired by a collection of Indigenous baskets in a Washington state museum. What is clear from his collections and installations is he thought more grandly about glass than previous practitioners. He did not create a vase or art piece; he created great garden installations or water sea forms and boats loaded with sphere-shaped glass floats. His pieces are blown for size and organic form, using gravity and movement as part of the creative process.
His glass installations, like statuary, can be enormous, or twisted chandeliers of glass hung suspended from the ceiling. I look at them, like other visitors, and wonder how this grandeur was produced and then mounted.
I thought of the fragility of glass. But then most artwork, paper, and paint, are temporal substances preserved at great effort. His artwork is a conversation with other forms.
His wife, Leslie Chihuly, is CEO of Chihuly, Inc. and oversees the vast business side of art production. They also have a foundation to support young artists. A Fulbright and NEA grants supported Dale in his long learning/apprenticeship period.
Like masters of the Renaissance, or Andy Warhol of the Factory, Chihuly applies his name to works that require a staff of many to fabricate. One new form, coils, had an 80 percent breakage rate until the artisans figured out the vulnerabilities of the form and how to correctly stabilize the craftsmanship. (There are several documentaries publicly available on Chihuly’s process.)
Glass and colors and the infrastructure of ovens, cooling ovens, proper storage, and revelation of the result only after cooling, have a large cost. The cost of breakage during the experimentation stage must be enormous.
The other factors that make Dale Chihuly relatable are that he works nearby in the Pacific Northwest, his home (although he really works internationally). He came of age during the idealistic time of the ‘60s and collaborative, community-based values.
He helps us take delight, recognize art has a history and a future
The Island of Murano
By the 8th century, glass-making was well established in Venice, owing to its dominance as the trade center between the Byzantine Empire and the Orient. The secrets of glass-making flowed with the trade to Venice.
When I visited Venice, I purchased a piece of art glass on a chain, a postage-stamp-sized purchase. It is filled with flecks of different colors, a changing depth of color. I wear it with pride.
It was before I was acquainted with Chihuly glass.
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