Dale Chihuly's Glass Art in Phoenix

Dale Chihuly was been making spectacular art objects from glass for over 40 years. We have seen his indoor exhibits in Detroit and Kalamazoo, and could not pass up a chance to see his outdoor exhibit here in the Desert Botanical Garden just east of Phoenix, near Scottsdale. We went there on January 17th in the afternoon. We walked through the gardens in full daylight under the Arizona sun and blue sky. Then we had a light meal at the patio until evening, then saw the twilight and nighttime look of the exhibit.

Chihuly was born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, and grew up there, and his involvement with the sea is apparent in many of his creations. In the 1960's he became infatuated with using blown glass as an art form, and was very bold in his creations.

In 1976 he lost an eye in a car accident in England. This affected his vision enough that he could no longer be a "gaffer" making blown glass objects himself, so he handed over the blow pipe to others and supervised their activities using his own creative talents. This no doubt resulted in a much larger team of artists than if he had continued to do the glass creations himself with just a few assistants.

The larger creations have many small pieces which are hung on a frame or pole with arms. For transporting them from place to place, each piece is removed and carefully wrapped for shipping.

Desert Botanical Gardens are a great place to visit even without the art exhibit. There are many species of desert plants there, all labeled very nicely for us city folks. As we hike on trails in the regional parks around Phoenix we see many plants. Some, like the huge suguaro cactus, the teddy bear cholla, the ocotillo "stick" cactus, and the prickly pear are easy to identify. But it's nice to have an idea of what the others are called. The place is laid out with winding walkways, and a nice patio where snacks are available.

Chihuly has a great website at http://www.chihuly.com/ , which leads off with many pictures of the Phoenix exhibit as well as a current exhibit at a botanical garden in Tacoma, WA. There is also a lot of biographical information at http://www.chihuly.com/essays/oldknow_2003.html

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