Today Barry, Abby, Richard and I all went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit in Seattle. It was a first for all of us. Barry rode the light rail up to Seattle from the Angle Lake Station, Abby and I rode it from Northgate, and Richard walked from his Seattle apartment to meet us at the Seattle Center.
We have an appreciation for the physical demand of this type of glassblowing while working quickly, but carefully. The intense heat in a hot shop is one thing, but the strength, tenacity and timing needed to work with such large pieces adds to the incredible accomplishments of Dale Chihuly, and others dedicated to this art form.
Chihuly incorporated the team approach to glass blowing that he witnessed in 1968 during his Fulbright Fellowship at the Venini glass factory in Venice, Italy.
Each room of the indoors portion of the exhibit had a specific focus.
The initial display was “Winter Brilliance” which was made up of unique icicle forms that Chihuly developed in 1996. He created his first permanent outdoor installation at the Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth. Chihuly was inspired to create a beautiful form resembling an icicle but that would also withstand a weight load of up to six feet of snow on it at any given time.
This gallery consists of some of Dale’s work from his Baskets, Cylinders and Soft Cylinders series along with a beautiful display of his personal collection of Native American woven blankets.
Sealife Room – These pieces reflect Dale’s love of the sea and connects the fluidity of both water and glass. The 20-ft high Sealife Tower includes beautiful kelp-like beds with a lot of sea creatures “moving” amongst them as “water currents” create the graceful dance.
Persian Ceiling – When working with glass you’re fighting that edge of being in control and out of control. When you’re creating a Persian you have to get the glass so hot that it wants to spin out and destroy itself by getting too thin, or not hot enough and be a boring, round plate.
Dale Chihuly: In creating the Persian Ceiling I was trying to make something that people had never seen before. So you walk under there and you look up and all of a sudden you have to start figuring out what you’re looking at and what is it, and how does it make you feel? I like to make people feel good.
Mille Fiori Display
Dale Chihuly: I’ve been inspired by so many things, one of which was growing up in a garden that my mother had. She had beautiful rhododendrons and azaleas and I would get to play in the garden and be around all these beautiful, natural forms. It also had a big influence on me, I think, in terms of color. Many of the installations are on black Plexiglas; a reflective surface. I love to work with reflective material. It gives a totally different dimension to the work, and the perspective changes as you move around the piece.
IKEBANA AND FLOAT BOAT DISPLAY
Dale Chihuly: I’ve always loved the water. I was raised in Tacoma, Washington on the water in the Pacific Northwest. As a little kid we’d beachcomb and find Japanese fishing floats and when we went to Finland I had the opportunity to throw the glass into the water and then we’d retrieve the glass in these Finnish rowboats like you see here.
Drawing Wall
I knew Dale lost the vision in his left eye, but I assumed it was from the intense hotshop work involving the glory hole with the molten glass, but that wasn’t it. Dale was in a serious head-on collision while in England in 1976. He was propelled through the windshield of his car, and ended up with 250 stitches on his face. Luckily, he survived the accident, recovered pretty well, but lost the use of his left eye, He has worn a patch ever since.
Chihuly also dislocated his shoulder, which once again, I wrongly assumed it was from physical demands of hotshop/glory hole glassblowing. Instead, Dale dislocated his shoulder in 1979 while body surfing.
Dale Chihuly: After my accident in 1976, I still blew glass for a while but I could never really blow glass as well. And it was always complicated because there were people around me and I could not see my left side very well. I didn’t have any depth perception, so it made it difficult for me – not so much for me but it made it difficult for the people around me, because they were always worried that I might not see them. That was really the beginning of my drawing – the more I drew the more I liked it. Sometimes the Drawings would be about the glass, sometimes they’d just be Drawings – a way to release the energy, a way for my mind and body to be creative while the glassblowing was going on.
Dale Chihuly: From the very beginning the Drawings were done as my glass is done – very quickly, very fast. I started out with the graphite pencils for the Seaform Drawings and the Persians, and I switched to charcoal for the Venetians, and then I’d begin to add some color, probably watercolors initially, and then liquid acrylics. Then I got into these golden acrylics about 10 years ago when I discovered that they made these – they were the first ones to do that I believe. Then I started painting with the container itself, just squirting the paint out, but I would always have sponges and brushes and mops and brooms around if I wanted to use other implements to draw with. I’m sure the Drawings are far more important than people probably think they are. I think they play a very central role in my creativity. If I didn’t draw I don’t think the work would have progressed at the rate or in the directions that the work has gone. The Drawings are a really major part of my work.
Chandeliers
Dale Chihuly: I woke up one morning and I said “I want to hang chandeliers over the canals of Venice, my favorite city.” I probably took that to the extreme with the Chandelier series, which I started in 1992 with the Seattle Art Museum. “I now can make a Chandelier, because it doesn’t have to be functional.” So I made a Chandelier for the Seattle Art Museum that looked sort of like yellow balloons. It was made up of about 500 parts – very simple forms. We did it in the 10-day period with a couple teams of glassblowers on it. It probably weighed 500 or 1,000 pounds, and that began the Chandelier series.
The colors will vary as the angle of light changes as you move around the chandeliers.
While I enjoyed all the chandeliers, the red one was both Richard’s and my favorite. I think for me it was the bold presence of the “ball/bubbles” in it.
I named this one the “Cinderella” chandelier because the “cones” reminded me of the hennins that the ugly stepsisters wore to the ball.
The Macchia Forest
I loved this room! Each piece was exquisite with all its colors.
We all enjoyed the multiple short videos shown in the theater section. It was so cool to see the massive outdoor glass art installations that Dale and his team(s) of glassblowers created under Dale’s vision in other countries. I think the most spectacular one was what he created in Jerusalem! So if you go, be sure to allow time to watch each one. They are on a loop. Total watching time is probably about 30 minutes.
Glasshouse
Demo
Outside was a local glassblower using a torch to create a smaller glass piece. Using a torch like this is called flameworking or lamp-blowing. This is the type of glassblowing that most people have seen.
More Chandeliers
Above a walkway outside area several smaller, colorful chandeliers.
The Garden
We all found the garden a delightful experience. Horticulture expertise was evident with the variety of plants and how together with the whimsical glass art enhanced each other.
Dale Chihuly: The lovely Garden that we designed is about 26,000 square feet. and I worked with Richard (Hartlage) to design the landscaping around the several installations. it’s an interesting way to work, to be able to have the landscape come in second, after the glasswork.
I LOVE snap dragons! I have since I was in 1st/2nd grade in Southern California. 🙂 My favorite are the deep, velvety red (burgundy) ones.
Gorgeous!
When I came around a bend, I saw before me a stunning display of orange – Beautiful, orange tiger lilies amongst elegant “dancing” orange glass reeds, and globes.
I loved the animal-like glass spheres in this area along with the reeds that used some of the same colors.
These could easily be missed! The reeds were awesome and the colors in the spheres were incredible, especially as bits of sunlight brought them to life.
We all thoroughly enjoyed Chihuly Garden and Glass and highly recommend putting it on you must see when in the Seattle area!
Of course we had to exit through the gift shop. I don’t think I’ll be buying any Chihuly glass today.
Richard has a friend who is a glass blower up in Bellingham. He basically makes pipes/bongs, but they are beautiful. These are a couple from cody_olson_glass on instagram.
We left the Seattle Center, and headed toward the waterfront for a place to have lunch.
LUNCH at Old Stove Brewing Company. We scored an outside table! Lunch was great!
What a difference with the viaduct down!
Barry wanted to check out “the gum wall” near Pike Place. We took my Aunt Judy and Uncle Tom here in 2009.
We walked towards the light rail. Barry headed back to Angle Lake, Abby and I head back to Northgate, while Richard walked home to get his vehicle to drive up to Abby’s for dinner. I love these two so much! I loved having time with both of them all day!
Nancy, You did an incredible job detailing Chihuly Museum. The outside gardens and garden setting use to be changed seasonally so there were always reasons to return to see new flora and art contrasts, always a favorite of mine. Dale is very friendly when visiting the Museum and other art spots, he does share his studio at Shilshoe (sp?) sometimes by invitation.
Thanks. Sue Karahalios
Thank you, Sue. It would have been so cool to run into Dale while we were there! Always nice to hear that an accomplished Artis is also friendly to people like us. 🙂