Chihuly An Artist Collects

Dale Chihuly (b. 1941), one of the most inno-vative and iconic figures in contemporary art, is also an avid collector of everything from ceramic dogs to inkwells, vintage Christmas orna-ments, dollhouse furniture, plastic radios--you name it, Chihuly collects it. These everyday objects reflect the same playful, colorful aesthetic that can be seen in Dale Chihuly's sculptures and installations. Fully illustrated, Chihuly: An Artist Collects includes an essay by Chihuly's longtime friend, artist Bruce Helander, who considers why people collect and explores the collections of artists such as Damien Hirst, Peter Blake, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso--and of course, Dale Chihuly.

Features the artist's glass sculptures from "The Garden Cycle" exhibition that were displayed in prominent conservatories and gardens around the world.

Dale Chihuly is the most famous and influential artist working in glass today. A career-spanning biographical essay by curator Timothy Anglin Burgard and stunning colour photography of the works will captivate Chihuly's myriad fans - both old and new.

Dale Chihuly is considered one of the most innovative and iconic figures in contemporary art. He's also an avid collector of everything from mid-century chairs and Native American baskets to dollhouse furniture and transistor radios. You name it, the artist collects and thoughtfully displays it. Including ten full-color images from Dale's beloved collections, which are featured in the book Chihuly: An Artist Collects, these playful postcards offer a rare look inside the mind of a passionate collector.

'As Marcel Duchamp said, 'the creation of art restlessly oscillates between two poles: the artist and the spectator', ' writes Donald Kuspit in his insightful essay, 'Chihuly and Stroemple: A Meeting of Imaginations'. He suggests that 'the collector is the ideal spectator.' For Dale Chihuly, George R. Stroemple, may be the ultimate 'ideal spectator' as he possesses more works by Chihuly than any other collector, concentrating on three series only -- the Irish Cylinders, Macchia, Venetians -- and Drawings. In 1997 the Portland Art Museum presented 350 works selected from this collection. In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition Kuspit explores the relationship of artist and collector, noting that 'this exhibition is not only about Dale Chihuly's glass art, but also about George R Stroemple's enthusiastic, if selective collecting of it.' Curator Kathryn Kanjo addresses the creation of these three distinctly different series in her incisive essay, 'Chihuly: Glass Without Limits'.Statements by the collector and his curator, Tracy Savage, who had run Chihuly's Seattle studio at the time of Stroemple's first purchases in 1990, offer intimate insights to this relationship of collector and artist.

The expertise of Native glass artists, in combination with the stories of their cultures, has produced a remarkable new artistic genre. This flowering of glass art in Indian Country is the result of the coming together of two movements that began in the 1960s--the contemporary Native arts movement, championed by Lloyd Kiva New, and the studio glass art movement, founded by American glass artists such as Dale Chihuly, who started several early teaching programs. Taken together, these two movements created a new dimension of cultural and artistic expression. The glass art created by American Indian artists is not only a personal expression but also imbued with cultural heritage. Whether reinterpreting traditional iconography or expressing current issues, Native glass artists have created a rich body of work. These artists have melded the aesthetics and properties inherent in glass art with their respective cultural knowledge. The result is the stunning collection of artwork presented here. A number of American Indian artists were attracted to glass early in the movement, including Larry "Ulaaq" Ahvakana and Tony Jojola. Among the second generation of Native glass blowers are Preston Singletary, Daniel Joseph Friday, Robert "Spooner" Marcus, Raven Skyriver, Raya Friday, Brian Barber, and Ira Lujan. This book also highlights the glass works of major multimedia artists including Ramson Lomatewama, Marvin Oliver, Susan Point, Haila (Ho-Wan-Ut) Old Peter, Joe David, Joe Fedderson, Angela Babby, Ed Archie NoiseCat, Tammy Garcia, Carol Lujan, Rory Erler Wakemup, Lillian Pitt, Adrian Wall, Virgil Ortiz, Harlan Reano, Jody Naranjo, and several others. Four indigenous artists from Australia and New Zealand, who have collaborated with American Indian artists, are also included. This comprehensive look at this new genre of art includes multiple photographs of the impressive works of each artist.

Dale Chihuly is arguably the best known glass artist in the world. Each title in the 'Chihuly Mini Book' series takes readers on a visual tour of Chihuly's work, exploring what makes each of his genres unique.

"Trade blankets, often called "Pendletons" after their best-known manufacturer, were woven in hundreds of combinations of colors and designs by woolen mills. Chihuly, who had studied weaving and textiles, became intrigued by the blankets' vibrant beauty and began collecting them. Included in this collection are blankets not only from Pendleton Woolen Mills, but also from other manufacturers, such as J. Capps and Sons, Buell Manufacturing Company, Racine Woolen Mills, and Oregon City Woolen Mills. Also included in this volume are selections of Chihuly's series of Blanket Cylinders. This series features an innovative technique: threads of colored glass are fused into a drawing of a blanket design, then picked up on the surface of hot cylinders, resulting in an image that vividly evokes a blanket's unique texture, pattern, and colors. Chihuly's Pendletons has 172 full-color reproductions, including blankets from the artist's private collection, historical photographs, and the distinguished Blanket Cylinders series. The volume also features an essay by Chihuly on his attraction to the blankets and his creative process in developing the series"-- Jacket.

The first children’s book about Dale Chihuly, the world-renowned glass sculptor His crew calls him Maestro. Thousands of fans call him a magician. Over the past five decades, Dale Chihuly (b. 1941) has created some of the most innovative and popular works of art in museums and gardens around the world. Authors Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan met with Chihuly in his studio for exclusive interviews discussing his early life, his passion for glassblowing, and his dazzling works. Lavishly illustrated with Chihuly’s art and family photographs, this book discusses Chihuly’s workshop and his glassblowing technique. The book includes a step-by-step look at how blown glass is created, a list of places to see Chihuly’s artwork, endnotes, a bibliography, and an index.

This book chronicles four decades of Dale Chihuly's work on paper, a dynamic collection that is a fascinating study of variety. Many of the drawings are drenched in thick, bold layers of colour. Others are more elusive -- just a hint of form sketched with a fistful of pencils or a confidently manipulated charcoal. Over the years his style has evolved, becoming more abstract and more elaborate, and his drawings, in some cases, have become much larger. But there are no rules; a technique that Chihuly favoured a decade before may resurface again. The excitement of Chihuly's work on paper is in its unpredictability, and that in two dimensions Chihuly is free to let his grandest schemes come to fruition. Above all, Chihuly's work on paper revels in the monumental creativity that is essentially Chihuly.