Fragile but unbroken

Artist Chihuly reveals his response to mental illness

Dale Chihuly has spent decades living in a fragile world. Recent visitors to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art have become familiar with the Tacoma, Wash., artist and his brilliant, color-filled glass art environment. The exhibit of blown glass creations dazzles the senses, both indoors and out at the Bentonville museum.

These are sculptures of extraordinary beauty, but one cannot get away from a sense of delicacy and, perhaps, a little fear that one wrong move, by the artist or the viewer, could lead to disaster.

Glass, according to Chihuly and others involved in the American studio glass movement, is stronger than many people think. These artists spend their careers handling breakable materials, aware that they must continually balance its fragility with its strengths.

Last Sunday, this newspaper featured a different kind of story about the 75-year-old artist and his immersion in frailty. He and his wife, Leslie, spoke with The Associated Press about his long struggle with bipolar disorder. The National Institutes for Health describes the affliction as a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy activity levels and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

“I’m usually either up or down,” Chihuly said. “I don’t have neutral very much. When I’m up I’m usually working on several projects. A lot of times it’s about a six-month period. When I’m down, I kind of go in hibernation.”

It was, even in 2017, an amazing act of self-revelation, a service to all who deal with the realities of mental illness in their own lives or in the lives of the people they love. Here is a world-renowned artist who has achieved both wealth and fame, at 75 years old, sharing his battles with the ebb and flow of depression, manic episodes and time spent in between.

Leslie met the artist in 1992. He was active, excited by an idea for gathering glass blowers from around the world in Venice to display their art in the city’s famed canals. Months later, traveling to exhibit in New York, Chihuly was different.

“It was like the lights went out,” she told The Associated Press as she choked back tears. “All of a sudden the guy who was interested in everything … that guy wasn’t there.”

Why talk about this? The two said mental illness is part of who the artist is, and they do not want to erase or hide that part of his experiences from his legacy.

“It’s a pretty remarkable moment to be able to have this conversation,” she said. “We really want to open our lives a little bit and share something more personal. … Dale’s a great example of somebody who can have a successful marriage and a successful family life and successful career — and suffer from a really debilitating, chronic disease. That might be helpful for other people.”

It’s not an unfamiliar story. A mind that sees beauty and possibilities in places or materials before others can spot them, can also be a root cause behind a tortured soul. One recalls the struggles of Beethoven, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Van Gogh, Poe, Picasso, Hemingway, and on and on.

What Chihuly has done by his openness is to tell the world mental illness must be faced, but it also mustn’t be viewed as an insurmountable hurdle. Through counseling, through medication and development of a ranking system that allows him to communicate what’s happening in his mind to his wife, Chihuly has found a path to cohabitating with his illness. He reminds others it’s possible.

He advises people to “see a good shrink” and to “try to live with it, to know that when they’re really depressed, it’s going to change, before too long. And to take advantage when they do feel up to get as much done as they can.”

Chihuly has brought wondrous color and light into the world through his glass sculptures. And by using his fame to reveal his struggles and successes with his mental illness, he’s shedding light on an issue that used to be ushered quickly into the dark.

In a 50-year career, Chihuly has introduced millions to his beautifully fragile-yet-strong world of glass. Now, he’s giving us all a peek into his fragile-yet-strong response to mental illness. In both instances, he’s helped make the world a better place.