Dale Chihuly is having an exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco from June 13 to September 28. I have been waiting for this exhibition since reading about it a few months ago. It should be amazing. I actually first heard about Chihuly when I visited Pine Ridge Winery a couple years ago — one of his famous glass sculptures adorns their dining room.
Chihuly is probably the premiere glass artist in America today. He makes some incredible designs that almost don’t seem possible. Really stunning stuff, to say the least. The de Young website states that Chihuly has never had an exhibit in San Francisco. I find that difficult to believe, since Chihuly is a West Coast native with a real counter-culture reputation and style.
Many of Chihuly’s works are massive installments, such as large, flowing chandeliers with ultra-vibrant colors. In this realm, Chihuly is considered ground-breaking for bringing the art of glass blowing to a larger scale. But my favorites are still Chihuly’s Seaforms, which I have only seen in books and online. They are smaller, more traditional pieces, but they are amazing.
Take a look for yourself. There are dozens of other hi-res pictures (plus other interesting content) at chihuly.com, which is where I discovered these:
Red Lavender Seaform Set with Dark Green Lip Wraps, 1992
Marigold Seaform Set with Pale Orange Lip Wraps, 2001
Rose Pink Seaform Set with Celadon Green Lip Wraps, 1984
