Chihuly in South Florida

[Karl-G]

It has just been announced that the world's pre-eminent glass artist, Dale Chihuly , is preparing an installation for the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Coral Gables, Florida (= S. Miami) for December 3, 2005-May 31, 2006. It will consist of several hundred glass pieces situated throughout the gardens. The gardens are about 45 minutes south of Fort Lauderdale, so if you are planning a winter get-away next year, besides the stripper bars and boys and beaches, these are some dates and an event to keep in mind. Chihuly lives and works in Seattle.

 

http://www.ftg.org/images/Chihuly/BlueHerons_sm.jpg

(Photo from the Fairchild Gardens page below.)

 

If you were fortunate enough to have seen the Chihuly Exhibit at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago in 2002, you will have an idea of what a fantastic installation Chihuly creates, his glass free-form objects looking as if they grew from the vegetation in the gardens.

 

To see the official notice, go to:

http://www.ftg.org/publicprograms/Chihuly_at_Fairchild.html

 

To see photographs of the Chicago Garfield Park Exhibit, go to:

http://www.chihuly.com/installations/garfield/

[+ Oliver]

Chihuly in Columbus, Ohio

 

Karl -

His exhibit was here 2003-2004 at the Franklin Park Conservatory. Breathtaking!

 

"Chihuly at the Conservatory

 

In October 2004, the Friends of the Conservatory, a private, nonprofit group that supports the Conservatory's programming, purchased the Dale Chihuly artworks that drew a record crowd to Franklin Park Conservatory in 2003 - 2004. Franklin Park Conservatory is the only public botanical garden in the world to permanently house a signature collection of Chihuly's artworks. Eight pieces are on permanent display, and the remaining artworks will be remounted for special shows every few years."

http://www.fpconservatory.org/images/fpc_chihuly/Gazebo%20Anemone%20Clusters.jpg

(Photo from http://www.fpconservatory.org/calendar.html)

 

The Columbus Museum Of Art had an exhibition of his "chandeliers" a few years ago, and he left one behind.

[Karl-G]

RE: Chihuly in Columbus, Ohio

 

Oliver,

 

Thanks for the note about the show in Columbus. Drat! I missed it. I did drive to Columbus a couple of years ago just to see the art museum, and it is wonderful! I saw the chandelier by Chihuly, and it is spectacular. It is well worth a trip to Columbus to see the museum, and then make a triangle of it and head up to Cleveland, which has one of the top museums in the U.S. and over to Toledo, which also has a jewel. And from there, it is just a few minutes north to the Detroit Museum of Art, which is also top-rate. Makes a great mini-vacation, and when I did it there were also nice guys available in each town each night. I came home smiling more than usual from that trip.

[buckguy]

RE: Chihuly

 

He had an installation at the Botanical Gradens in Atlanta. I thought it deserved a mixed review---some parts of the garden had many and appropriate pieces, others seemed like afterthoughts. It might have been better to focus on one or more areas (like the conservatory) and have more pieces that really fit the environment. Many people have said much the same thing as me about the Atlanta installation---I've heard better reports regarding the one in Columbus--it sounds like they concentrated on a single space and created something with more integrity. In Atlanta, though, the "phoned-in" quality of Chihuly's recent work was evident in the lack of imagination in the typically Chihuly baskets and seafoams---I've been following glass for almost 20 years and Chihuly's work has become ever more predictable and unintersting. There are other glass artsists who are able to take simple idioms and take thm in more creative directions.

 

The orientation video in Atlanta was ludicrous---they emphasized Chihuly's installations in the garish homes of Atlanta's wealthy and in places like corporate office building lobbies and Las Vegas! Little mention of his work being exhibited in major museums and no effort to help promote glass as art--I attribute that to Atlanta rather than Chihuly, even a philistine like me has no trouble mocking the silly corporatist mindset here.

 

Hopefully, the Floridians can come up with a better installation and orientation materials.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Chihuly's team does amazing things...

 

I haven't ever had the pleasure of seeing them put together anything in-person, but in the Chihuly DVD boxed set (being sold on Amazon.com i think) they have some pretty good footage of a Chicago exhibit being constructed. It's awesome.

 

I do worry that Chihuly is oversaturating, as his stuff is beginning to pop up everywhere. It's sort of the same way i felt about Keith Haring's work (and mass branding) after he passed away, but luckily so far he seems just as marketable as ever. Anyone here ever been into his 'Popshop' on Lafayette in NYC? It's a pretty cool joint.

 

 

~BN