As part of this year's summer vacation to my hometown of Tacoma, Washington, this year I got to learn more about famed glass artist Dale Chihuly. He was born in Tacoma, and as such, several locations downtown, including the Tacoma Art Museum, have permanent installations of his artwork on display.
The photo taken above is part of a glass ceiling display of the "Glass Bridge" that pedestrians can take to get to the Tacoma Glass Museum down on the waterfront of Commencement Bay.
According to Wikipedia, Chihuly's largest permanent exhibit can be found at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. In 1983 Chihuly returned to his native Pacific Northwest where he continued to develop his own work at the Pilchuck Glass School, which he had helped to found in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, influenced by the great glassblowing tradition of Murano, Chihuly experimented with the team approach to glassblowing. Working with a team of master glassblowers and assistants has enabled him to produce architectural glass art of a scale and quantity unimaginable working alone or with only one assistant.
In 2010 the Space Needle Corporation submitted a proposal for an exhibition of Chihuly's work at a site in the Seattle Center, in competition with proposals for other uses from several other groups. The project, which sees the new Chihuly exhibition hall occupy the site of the former Fun Forest amusement park in the Seattle Center park and entertainment complex, received the final green light from the Seattle City Council on April 25, 2011. It opened May 21, 2012.
If you ever have the opportunity to see his work, I encourage you to do so. Photographs just don't do justice to the vibrant colors and the intricate sculpting shapes and contortions of the glass art.
According to Wikipedia, Chihuly's largest permanent exhibit can be found at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. In 1983 Chihuly returned to his native Pacific Northwest where he continued to develop his own work at the Pilchuck Glass School, which he had helped to found in 1971. Throughout the 1970s, influenced by the great glassblowing tradition of Murano, Chihuly experimented with the team approach to glassblowing. Working with a team of master glassblowers and assistants has enabled him to produce architectural glass art of a scale and quantity unimaginable working alone or with only one assistant.
In 2010 the Space Needle Corporation submitted a proposal for an exhibition of Chihuly's work at a site in the Seattle Center, in competition with proposals for other uses from several other groups. The project, which sees the new Chihuly exhibition hall occupy the site of the former Fun Forest amusement park in the Seattle Center park and entertainment complex, received the final green light from the Seattle City Council on April 25, 2011. It opened May 21, 2012.
If you ever have the opportunity to see his work, I encourage you to do so. Photographs just don't do justice to the vibrant colors and the intricate sculpting shapes and contortions of the glass art.
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