Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1965, Chihuly enrolled in the first glass program in the country, at the University of Wisconsin. He continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he later established the glass program and taught for more than a decade. Mark McDonnell wrote about the artist: “Chihuly has observed, and remains true to the fact, that glass is one of the few materials that transmit light and radiate color. Constantly experimenting with the properties and potential of his material, he has developed an extended and novel palette with a broad range and complexity at precisely the moment that color field painting seems to be in decline.”
His material is glass, which is traditionally associated with the decorative arts, by definition subservient to architecture, and with closed vessels and containers or precious small-scale objects. Yet Chihuly has broken through these limitations and literally changed the definition of glass.
He has found ways of creating huge environments and theatrical happenings with this intransigent and fragile material by stretching its unique properties in unprecedented ways.
Barbara Rose wrote about the artist’s projects: “Chihuly’s shimmering glass installations create the pleasure and release of a bodily freedom that permits us to feel unanchored, liberated both from gravity and from the familiar boring and colorless shapes and experiences of everyday reality.”
Like many artists with roots in the sixties, Chihuly works in series and uses permutations to add variety. The step from hard to soft cylinders was an obvious one to take next.
