Dale Chihuly

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Dale Chihuly.
Dale Chihuly.

Dale Patrick Chihuly (b. September 20, 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, USA) is an American glass sculptor.

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Dale Chihuly's work Inside and Out belongs to the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.
Dale Chihuly's work Inside and Out belongs to the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska.

Chihuly graduated from high school in Tacoma. Supported by his mother, after his brother George's death in a flight-training accident in Florida and his father's death of a heart attack, he enrolled at the College of the Puget Sound (now University of Puget Sound) in 1959. A year later, he transferred to the University of Washington at Seattle, where he studied interior design, architecture and glassblowing.

In 1967 he received a Masters of Science in glassblowing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1968 he received a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he later helped establish the school's glass program. In that year he also received a Fulbright Fellowship, and went on to become the first American glassblower to work in the prestigious Venini Fabrica on the island of Murano. Along with several other glass artists, Chihuly founded the influential Pilchuck Glass School in 1971 in Stanwood, Washington.

Chihuly's Glowing Gemstone Polyvitro Chandelier hangs in the Joslyn Art Museum.
Chihuly's Glowing Gemstone Polyvitro Chandelier hangs in the Joslyn Art Museum.

Chihuly lives and works in his 25,000 square foot (2300 m²) studio, nicknamed "The Boathouse" for its former use, on Lake Union. Since losing the vision in one of his eyes in an automobile accident in 1976, Chihuly (who wears an eyepatch) no longer has the depth perception necessary to handle the molten glass himself. Instead, he conceptualizes each project with paint and canvas and then employs a team of artists to do the work. In 1991, Chihuly began his Niijima Floats Series (see link below), some of the largest blown glass pieces in the world, at the Niijima International Glass Art Festival in Japan.

Fiori di Como on the Bellagio Hotel lobby ceiling on the Las Vegas Strip
Fiori di Como on the Bellagio Hotel lobby ceiling on the Las Vegas Strip

Chihuly’s work is a story of his life. His fascination with abstract nature forms comes from his mother’s garden in Tacoma, Washington. Also, his love for the ocean and its creatures is reflected in his work. Over the past forty years, Chihuly’s glass sculptures have explored color, design, and assemblage. Although his work varies in size and color, he is best known for his multipart blown masterpieces.

Some of Chihuly’s works cover whole ceilings of casinos and hotels, while others are mere palm-size abstract flowers. Chihuly uses intense, vibrant colors and linear decoration to bring his work to life; almost all of his works are vibrantly colored. He is also known for using neon and argon. Chihuly is best known for using nature and its surroundings as a setting for his pieces, and for creating his pieces as though they are part of nature. He sometimes entwines his pieces in tree branches and around tree trunks. He also suspends them in space and floats them in water.

In 2000, Dale Chihuly's commission from the Victoria and Albert Museum for a 30ft high, blown glass chandelier dominates the museum's main entrance.
In 2000, Dale Chihuly's commission from the Victoria and Albert Museum for a 30ft high, blown glass chandelier dominates the museum's main entrance.

A Chihuly in Coral Gables, FL with floating spheres in the background
A Chihuly in Coral Gables, FL with floating spheres in the background

Chihuly by Donald Kuspit. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

The Essential Dale Chihuly by William Warmus. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2000.

  • The documentary Chihuly Over Venice became the first HDTV program to be broadcast in the United States when it aired in November 1998.
  • On the television show Frasier, a Chihuly glass bowl was included as part of the set for Frasier's stylish Seattle flat and occasionally featured in the story line.

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