Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Museum raises a glass to Chihuly
Indoor-outdoor exhibit of sculptor’s work begins today at Crystal Bridges
Rod Bigelow was introduced to the vibrant world of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly as a high school student in Tacoma, Wash.
Bigelow, now the executive director of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, attended an exhibition featuring some of the Tacoma native’s work called “100,000 Pounds of Ice and Neon.” The show consisted of neon tubes encased in ice, which cast a colorful glow across the Tacoma Dome.
“It was this big spectacle,” Bigelow said. “It evolved over a week because the ice slowly melted and the work changed. I was like, what is this stuff ?”
The dazzling display left a lasting impression on Bigelow, who eventually embarked on a museum career that now brings a collection of the artist’s work to Arkansas in the temporary exhibition “Chihuly: In the Gallery and in the Forest.” More than 300 objects spanning Chihuly’s 50-year career — most of which feature his renowned work with blown glass — are on view in an exhibition located in the museum’s gallery and newly renovated North Forest Trail.
The indoor-outdoor showcase will open to museum members today, beginning a weeklong preview that ends June 2. The exhibition will be on view to the general public beginning June 3 with the
indoor part closing Aug. 14. The outdoor works will remain on view until Nov. 13.
The dual exhibition is a first for Crystal Bridges and has been part of a collaboration with Chihuly and his Seattle-based team that began in 2013. It was then that Chihuly and a few associates first toured the Bentonville museum, setting the stage for putting both iconic and new creations on display.
“We talked about having a display of his work that really was different and unique because Crystal Bridges is situated differently within the context of museums,” Bigelow said. “When he was here walking through the American collection and thinking about how he fits in within the American collection, he really wanted to show a range of new and different things.”
Chihuly, who was born in 1941, is considered a pioneer in his field because of a process that differs from other traditional glass blowers. Instead of controlling the blowing process during the creation of an object, he allowed the molten glass to bend, fold and move according to its own rhythm and gravity.
He blew his first small glass bubble as an art student in the 1960s and it set him on a career that has spanned five decades. Chihuly no longer blows glass himself. Instead, he’s the orchestrator for his team. But his installations have been featured around the world with works included in more than 250 museum collections.
The indoor exhibition at Crystal Bridges includes a rare look at those humble beginnings with a 1965 piece, Weaving with Fused Glass. Britt Cornett, head of exhibitions with the Chihuly Studio, said a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle challenged students to incorporate an unusual material into a fiber weaving. Chihuly chose glass, melting small pieces on a hot plate in his studio and fusing them with the fiber.
“This is a big moment for us,” Cornett said about the piece, which is housed in a glass case. “This is really where it all started. This is Dale’s first discovery of glass as a material.”
Several of his creations — which include detailed cylinders inspired by American Indian textiles, abstract works of thick spirals called Rotolo, and intricate glass on glass paintings — are on display indoors. The works can be viewed along with other artifacts, like Chihuly’s personal collection of American Indian trade blankets and drawings of glass objects. Winter Brilliance, which was originally created for a Barneys New York holiday window, incorporates icelike chandelier structures that change color and are set to music.
Outside, Chihuly’s influences from collaborations in other countries are evident — particularly a 1995 trip to Finland, where his team of glassblowers worked with natives to create glass forms that were installed outdoors. Tubular reeds, cascading chandeliers and curved shapes called “belugas” are all visible just off the paved trail, becoming the first works to appear in the museum’s new natural setting.
“To have an American artist like Dale Chihuly, who is clearly influenced and inspired by so many cultures and so many places and really learned his form and learned his craft in a different country and comes back, just speaks to this global power of art,” said Crystal Bridges curator Lauren Haynes.
It took nearly two weeks to complete the installation process for the exhibit, but much more went into planning with several pieces created specifically for the Crystal Bridges exhibition.
One of them — the vibrant Sole D’oro, or Golden Sun — is a 5,000-pound structure that consists of 1,300 hand blown pieces of golden and clear glass. The glass pieces twist, curl and reflect the natural light on the trail.
The shimmering Azure Icicle Chandelier, a two-tiered object hanging from the museum’s gallery bridge, contains about 675 individual pieces of glass and also was created for the Crystal Bridges display.
Chihuly, who was not available for comment, briefly stood underneath the chandelier with hands clasped during a photo opportunity Friday. He wore an eye patch, which has covered his left eye since he was blinded in a car crash in 1976, and dark shoes splattered with colorful paint.
“To this day I have not gotten over the excitement of molten glass,” Chihuly said in a statement provided by Crystal Bridges. “The process is so wonderfully simple, yet so mystifying. I’m still amazed to see the first breath of air enter the hot gather of glass at the end of a blowpipe.”
Crystal Bridges hopes visitors will be captivated by Chihuly’s creations as well. Admission for the indoor and outdoor exhibitions is $20 for adults. There is no cost for museum members and youths 18 and under.
“This is going to be great for our visitors and people in the region who may be a little familiar with Chihuly or some of his mega-fans who have been telling us how excited they are since hearing about this exhibition,” Haynes said. “We really want people to spend time indoors and outdoors.”