Chihuly Garden and Glass – Seattle, Washington
“I never met a color I did not like.” Dale Chihuly
As soon as you enter the Chihuly space , there is a magnificent piece of glass.
You turn around and an explosion of color and light appears.
I walk through the galleries in awe of seeing so many beautiful pieces in one place. Even the idea that hot glass pushed through a pipe, can be shaped in such extraordinary ways is fascinating.
The exhibition includes indoor and outdoor spaces as well as a glass atrium. The pieces work perfectly to heighten the spirit of the environment.
In the first gallery is his basket series influenced by Indian baskets and tapestries with blown glass in them.
The other works are mostly floral motifs based on influences from his mother’s garden.
He has the ability to blend his work well with nature.
Dale Chihuly is renowned for his architectural installations in museums, gardens and public buildings throughout the world.
He studied at the first glass program in the United States at the University of Wisconsin and received a Fulbright Scholarship to study glass blowing in Venice. He established a program at the Rhode Island School Of Design and taught there for many years. An auto accident in 1976 caused him to lose eyesight in one eye. His injuries caused him to relinquish his actual glass blowing activities and continued developing his projects with his chief glassblower William Morris. He now presides over a company of artisans.
I would have loved to see his large-scale installation of Chandeliers Over Venice.
There were fourteen large-scale chandeliers hung over various sites in Venice. PBS did a video about it which runs from time to time called Chihuly Over Venice.
The Chihuly Garden and Glass opened in 2012 by the Wright family who own and manage the Space Needle to reinvigorate Seattle City Center.
The Collections Cafe which houses some of Chihuly’s collections has great food.
Though others may critique this idea, there is something magical to me about an artist who can no longer physically create his own pieces, but is able to see how far he can go with glass and show us his vision – with only one eye. http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/m/
Fly safe,
JAZ
Travel Well, Fly Safe 
Completely agree! Chihuly is a gifted visionary working in a medium so delicate that most of us can’t even imagine taking a first step into the craft. And his loss of his eye only seemed to spur on his “vision” in many ways. Nicely done!
Thanks for commenting.