Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Layout
The masterpieces are split between an eight-room exhibition center, a glasshouse filled
with natural light, and a garden. Between them they showcase the full gamut of Chi-
huly's Pacific Northwest influences, most notably Native American art, Puget Sound
sea life, and wooden boats.
LEARN GLASSBLOWING
In the summer of 1971, Dale Chihuly co-founded
Pilchuck Glass School
(
www.pilchuck.com
)
at a campus in Stanwood, WA, 50 miles north of Seattle on an
old tree farm. Inhabiting rustic buildings constructed in typical Northwestern style,
the school remains popular 40 years on, especially in the summer, when it offers in-
tensive two-week courses in glassblowing.
Chihuly Garden & Glass has revitalized the Seattle Center after a tough five
years. In 2008, the Key Arena (and Seattle) lost its pro basketball team the
SuperSonics, who relocated to Oklahoma City, and then, in 2011, the Intiman
Theater briefly disappeared after a financial crisis (it reopened in 2012). Other
casualties have been the Funhouse, a much-loved live punk venue, and the
Fun Forest, a kitschy amusement park and one of the 1962 World's Fair's ori-
ginal attractions that ran for 48 years until its closure in January 2011.
Exhibition Hall
The first standout exhibit is
Sealife Tower
, a huge azure structure of intricately blown
glass that looks as if it has sprung straight out of Poseidon's lair. Look out for the small
octopuses and starfish melded into the swirling waves and examine Chihuly's early
sketches for the work that adorn the surrounding walls. The next exhibit,
Persian Ceil-
ings
, creates a reflective rainbow of light in an otherwise unfurnished room, while the
ambitious
Mille Fiori
presents glass as vegetation with multiple pieces arranged in an
ethereal Wizard of Oz-like 'garden.' The
Ikebana & Float Boat
consists of several
boats overflowing with round glass balls and was inspired by Chihuly's time in Venice:
he casually threw luminous glass spheres into the canals and watched as local children
enthusiastically collected them in boats. In the adjoining room lie the main objects of
the
Chihuly Over Venice
project: rich, ornate
chandeliers
of varying sizes and colors
that were hung artistically around the city in 1996.
