Mike and I got the Seattle City Pass and
decided to visit the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit in the Seattle Center directly next to the Space Needle, showcasing the studio glass of Dale Chihuly.
Chihuly Garden and Glass spans 1.5 acres and includes an Exhibition Hall, the centerpiece Glasshouse and a lush Garden. It is owned and managed by the Wright family, children of Howard S. Wright II who constructed the Space Needle.
The Chihule Exhibit is breathtaking so unique. The museum is fairly small and it doesn't take much time to get through. The museum is self-paced and took us about two hours to enjoy the unbelievably gorgeous exhibits.
We see Chihuly's work all over, but who is he?
Dale Chihuly is an American artist world renowned for his glass art. While his work is displayed in more than 200 museums around the world, he also incorporates his glass sculptures into a variety of indoor and outdoor exhibits.
Dale Chihuly was born September 20, 1941, in Tacoma, Washington. His glass sculptures combine colorful glass bubbles, long curled twists, and jellyfish-like blown glass components into one-of-a-kind masterpieces.
After a year at the College of Puget Sound, Dale Chihuly transferred to the University of Washington in Seattle and enrolled in their interior design program, where he graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interior design.
Chihuly’s earliest work began by weaving small pieces of it into tapestries. Chihuly then studied art in Florence, Italy, and architecture in the Middle East. He returned to Europe in 1968 as a Fulbright Fellow at Venini Fabrica, the famous glass-blowing factory on the island of Murano about a mile from Venice.
In 1966, Chihuly received a full scholarship to study at America’s first glass program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. After receiving his Master of Science degree in sculpture, he moved to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where he added a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture to his credentials and landed a Fulbright Fellowship to study in Italy. Chihuly was the first American glassblower to apprentice with the glass masters who had long guarded their centuries-old secrets on the tiny island of Murano. The techniques learned at Venini Fabrica have remained part of Chihuly’s approach.
Dale Chihuly wears an eye patch because of acar accident in London in 1976. The impact sent him through the car’s windshield. Chihuly received more than 250 stitches in his face and lost the sight in his left eye. Then, he severely injured his shoulder in a body surfing accident a few years later. Between the two impairments, his limited depth perception and injured shoulder, Chihuly was forced to pass his glass blowing pipe to a team of artists in 1979.
Venice remains one of Dale Chihuly’s favorite cities and one of his first architectural installments was Chihuly Over Venice. In 1996, drawn to the water surrounding the famed Italian city, the glass artist and his team incorporated 14 massive glass sculptures into its buildings, bridges, and gardens. His work appears in more than 200 art museums around the world, including the Smithsonian, Louvre, and National Gallery of Australia.
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