Episode 87: Dale Chihuly

We’re coming at you today with a post on Dale Chihuly, glassblower extraordinaire!

Born in 1941, Dale earned a Fulbright scholarship, studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, and taught glassblowing for years. He’s a prolific artist and has pieces all over the world, receiving numerous accolades for his contribution to the artistic community.

These are some of the pieces we talked about in our podcast this week:

This was an early work by Dale, and features an interesting combination of weaving and glass. I’m thankful that Dale didn’t stop here but did more glassblowing, because compared to his later artwork, this one is nowhere near as amazing.

This is the ceiling to the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s almost like a rainbow has been bolted into the ceiling!

 

 

 Two Opalescent Putti In Tree With Lovely Fairy-Wrens, 1999
 

This one is called “Blue and Purple Boat” and is at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Arizona. Looking at those colors one might think the image has been Photoshopped, but that’s one of the beautiful things about glassblowing- you can get gorgeous saturated colors.

Those kids need to start running for their lives! The “Palm House Blue Peacock Tower” looks kind of intimidating, but it again showcases those lovely blues.

We love the color blue, don’t we? These “Blue Herons” were at the New York Botanical Gardens in 2005. The shapes that can be created with glass are incredible- It’s hard to believe that these abstract shapes suggesting birds began life as a blob of molten glass!

Lastly, here’s the “Olympic Tower” in Salt Lake City, Utah. A permanent addition to Abravanel Hall, it’s a beautiful addition to the many sights and sounds of Salt Lake (and it’s not blue!).

Check out images of "Chihuly Over Venice" at http://rolfgross.dreamhosters.com/ChihulyWeb/Installations.html 

Dale Chihuly's official website is http://www.chihuly.com/
 

Next week Jo and Alisha will be talking about Greek vs. Roman gods.