Chihuly in Kzoo.

September 25, 2005 2:50 PM

If you live in the Midwest, or just like to travel, you may want to consider visiting the Dale Chihuly exibit in Kalamazoo, MI, his only major North American exhibition for the rest of the year. Mainly known for his glass work, he also does paintings and drawings. Previous discussion of Chihuly's work here.
posted by handshake (18 comments total)

Dale Chihuly.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:56 PM on September 25, 2005

Cool. But it's Dale.
posted by mondo dentro at 2:57 PM on September 25, 2005

Mod note: fixed the dale/dave typo
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:00 PM on September 25, 2005

What did I put?
posted by handshake at 3:03 PM on September 25, 2005

Oh I see. Sorry about. I don't know what/who I was thinking about when I typed it. Thanks for the fix.
posted by handshake at 3:04 PM on September 25, 2005

We had that exhibit in Charlotte a few years ago and it was incredible. Walking through the tunnel of glass is well worth the price of admission.
posted by SashaPT at 3:24 PM on September 25, 2005

FWIW (not much, I suppose), I've always found Chihuly's work technically impressive, but gaudy and rather shallowly decorative. I much prefer the monumental cast glass of Howard Ben Tre.
posted by mondo dentro at 3:30 PM on September 25, 2005

technically impressive...

A good indicator of how long someone has lived in Seattle is whether one gushes or guffaws at mention of Chihuly's name. When it comes to tireless self-promotion, Chihuly has no peers--a fact all too well known to the natives hereabouts.

Vanity Fair recounted a story told by Nicholas Cage--who is quite the art collector--on the crassness of contemporary artists. He recounted about how once he was at some party wanting to tell this incredible glass artist how he wanted to buy some pieces of his and had just introduced himself and gotten out something along the lines of I've always been a big admirer of your, Mr. Chi...

-- when the guy suddenly looked up and across the room and shouted

MR. DONALD TRUMP !!

and ran across the room to suck up to the Big Money. He lost the Cage sale, to say the least. Shallow is the gentlest possible apropo description.
posted by y2karl at 4:26 PM on September 25, 2005

That's Nicolas Cage (while we're correcting first names). I like the glass (I most recently saw some at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Jelly exhibit) -- but the drawings/paintings, not so much.
posted by obloquy at 6:05 PM on September 25, 2005

St. Petersburg (the one near Tampa - not the one in Russia) will be home to a permanent exhibit of Chihuly's work - the first of it's kind. I'm not a huge fan of his work but my hope is that the gallery will be a huge shot in the arm to St. Pete's growing arts scene. And dare I say it but he may actually bring some culture to the redneck Riviera.
posted by photoslob at 6:28 PM on September 25, 2005

When it comes to tireless self-promotion, Chihuly has no peers

That may be true, but Thomas Kinkade is providing competition.

I've never even found the glass all that appealling. I'm sure it is very hard to do, but once any of it gets very large I just don't find it attractive. The large ceiling installation at Bellagio in Vegas is one where I just shake my head and wonder what crack people are on to rave about it so much.

Small individual pieces are nice, though.
posted by obfusciatrist at 6:49 PM on September 25, 2005

Isn't it Dave Chihuly?
posted by spock at 7:07 PM on September 25, 2005

Seattle bumper sticker: Recycle Chihulys
posted by QuietDesperation at 7:53 PM on September 25, 2005

*cough,Chihuly,cough,gag,blah. Recycle, Recycle, Recycle.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:57 PM on September 25, 2005

You can't throw a rock in Phoenix without hitting a Chihuly.

Which, come to think of it ...
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:58 PM on September 25, 2005

Dale Chihuly, the Thomas Kinkade of glass? Discuss.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:15 PM on September 25, 2005

I had a roommate who used to work for Chihuly and I'd say y2karl is being far too kind. His stuff sure is lovely though. He's got one eye so he does very little of the fabrication himself, despite what the publicity stillls show.
posted by jessamyn at 8:48 PM on September 25, 2005

Thanks to the popularity of Dale Chihuly, if there is a tornado in any major Midwestern town, the people are going to be running around with large chunks of colored glass sticking out of their faces.
posted by maxsparber at 8:33 AM on September 26, 2005