Do you see what I see?
Dale Chihuly
Chihuly time!
It has been too long. Chihuly is too wonderful.
Of course Chihuly learned his craft in Italy, so for me looking at his glass is like looking through a glass into the Italian past. It’s how I roll.
I can’t get enough of his work. I take all out-of-towners to the Seattle Center to see the exhibit there and everyone is amazed.
All of these works are from the Seattle Center exhibit.
You have heard of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. But, at Seattle Center, there is a luminous ceiling composed of glassworks. Gorgeous.
And then there is this humongous outdoor installation.
Then, back inside:
Some of his glass creations, like this white one above, reminds me of a taffy pull or some elaborate French confection.
Get yourself to a Chihuly exhibit next chance you get, in Seattle or anywhere!
Dale Chihuly in Tacoma
If you’re a Dale Chihuly fan, you’ll have to go to Tacoma, Washington.
In a landmark Tacoma building, which opened in 1911 as this then booming city’s major train station, some of Chihuly’s large-scale work is displayed with great effect. This is a terrific old building–it’s on the National Register of Historic Places— and the old and new are integrated magnificently here.
One entire wall of the former train station is made up of windows. Originally this would have allowed passengers to watch for incoming or outgoing trains. Today the wall of glass serves as a great light box, covered with these bright yellow and orange disks of blown glass.
Even on a typically overcast northwestern day, the space glows with the warm light shining through Chihuly’s hotly colored spheres.
The masterful manipulation of the blown glass, which you see in this close-up of one of the gigantic spheres, creates a zig zag pattern within the sheet of glass. This design makes me think of Missoni zig zags (and rest in peace, Ottavio Missoni, founder of the great Italian fashion brand, who died today at age 92).
Handling the molten glass in a certain way to produce this design is a time-honored method in the world-famous Venetian glass world, and Chihuly’s training in that tradition shines through beautifully.
Standing directly in front of one of these huge transparent disks, it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle of orange and yellow.
get back, lauretta! 
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