

|
|
|
|
|
World
Travel
Destinations |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dreamscapes Two
More Fiction |
|
|
|
|
 |
|

- From Our Archives
Dale
Chihuly - The Emperor of Seattle
Sam North |
 |

Chihuly's Indoor Pool -
Photo © Sam North
|
It's perhaps not a marbled Palace of the Venetian Grand Canal, although
the setting is certainly aqueous enough, nevertheless there is
an Emperor in Seattle and he really does live the life of an Italian
master of the arts. Indeed he trained in Italy at the Venini Factory
and the influences he found there have never left him.
Dale Chihuly (born in Tacoma, 1941) and founder of the Pilchuck
Glass School, is probably the greatest showman of the glassworld.
His brilliantly colourful work is treasured the world over and
his events draw huge crowds.
In 2002 the garden display in Garfield Park, Chicago was immensely
popular and the Chihuly at the V&A in London drew big crowds.
A
recent work, the $12-million Dale Chihuly Bridge
of Glass in Tacoma, WA, is unique. A glass ceiling of
seaform pieces welcome you, leading to a wall of his Venetian
vases with 110 pieces straddling the highway. 12 metre towers
of blue glass ice-crystals rise over the bridge leading to
the new Arthur Erickson designed Museum of Glass on Dock Row.
Now there is the new 'Garden of Glass (Mille Firoi)' at the
Tacoma
Art Museum on Pacific Avenue - a major feature of the
new $63 million dollar museum |
 |
|
The Barnum
of glass lives as flamboyantly as his glass designs in a vast,
former boathouse, which serves as a working studio/home under
a bridge in Seattle.
It sports an 25.5 metre dining table (a complete tree in fact),
suspended over which are his amazing Venetian chandeliers. There's
also a 30 metre mirror lined swimming pool where you swim over
submerged Chihuly 'seaforms' tropical flora glass.
The hot glass studio is fascinating and teams, under guest glass
artists or Chihuly himself, interpret the astonishingly vibrant
inspirational paintings that Dale creates (collectors items on
their own) using them as the template for his varied designs.
 |
The
output is prolific and Chihuly glass design is always evolving.
Witness the Macchias, a vivid organic influence is always
at the root of his work; this glass wants to live. |
 |
One of the organic range of vases |

|
Chihuly
Vase |
|

Hot
Glass © Sam North
|
|
The
boathouse sports a sunken guest bedroom that faces out onto the
water, at boat level and in the bathroom there's a sunken Chihuly
'seaforms' under the transparent bath.
At the touch of a button the window turns opaque in case you're bashful. The kitchen and indeed the entire boathouse is decorated
in 19th century tinplate metallic grey and gives it an authentic
touch, but then again, if you have ever seen 'A Man with Two Brains' you'll understand. |
Photos: © Sam North
|
 |
|

The
life-size model for the Bridge of Glass Icon
|

The
Glass
Blowing Team
|

|
|
©
Sam North Editor - Hackwriters.com 2002
editor@hackwriters.com
Tacoma and the Museum of
Glass
Welcome to Chihuly's world. www.chihuly.com
Home
©
Hackwriters 2000-2021
all rights reserved
|