When you come upon one of of glass artist Dale Chihuly's installations, it is though you have wondered onto an alien landscape. He utilizes shapes that appear in nature, so that you may happen upon a family of spheres or something hanging and tentacled, perhaps calling to mind a cluster of bananas or a sea anemone.

Dale Chihuly began working with glass in the 1960s and is credited with revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement by his insistence on heading projects that use collaborative teams, instead of doing it all on his own. This has enabled him to create much larger and much more complex works.

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass, in Tacoma, Washington, is one of the results of this insistence. This is an actual footbridge crossing Interstate 705 and connecting the Washington State History Museum and the Museum of Glass. He collaborated with an architect to complete this project, something that was probably made easier by his school background in architecture.

The Atlantis project is a set of large glass sculptures intended to invoke images of the mythical city for which it is named. There is the Atlantis Chandelier; the Temple of the Moon, which is a blue sphere of swirling colors; the Temple of the Sun, which is a mighty, fiery, tentacled thing; and the Crystal Gate, a white floor sculpture that looks like something that lives at the bottom of the sea.

He puts up temporary exhibits as well, one of which was displayed at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. These individual pieces are made to look like flowers, with colorful glass bulbs on green stems. Some of his leaves are of highly intricate design, with ridges and red moving into green. One piece was even a set of brilliant yellow lily pads, which created the feel of an alien landscape. Chihuly's work makes the familiar new again.

The Art of Dale Chihuly

Posted by Rhonda.

Rhonda is the editor of Unique Or Unusual.