For this post, my blog will be like a travelogue or a gallery tour. I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Asheville, NC, to visit The Biltmore House and the Chihuly at Biltmore exhibit. Oh my, I love Dale Chihuly glass creations. I've seen them before at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ, and the Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, FL. But they are worth seeing again and again! Near the entry of the exhibit we saw this spectacular array of colorful Navajo design wool trade blankets, many made by Pendleton Woolen Mills. Chihuly's collection of the vintage blankets inspired the vessels you'll see next.
You can see the influence of the woven threads that were created with thin glass rods in these cylinders. They are part of his "Navajo Blanket Cylinders" series.
Native American designs of the Pacific Northwest later appeared in the glass vessels when he captured the soft sag of native baskets in his Soft Cylinders series. The shadow on the wall illustrates how translucent these colorful glass cylinders are. From the left are Pyrol Orange Soft Cylinder with Verditer Blue Lip Wrap; Rose Soft Cylinder with Forest Green Lip Wrap; Sun Yellow Soft Cylinder with Green Lip Wrap; and Verdant Green Soft Cylinder with Poppy Lip Wrap. So there's a new technical term for you- lip wrap! Just beautiful and the lip wraps provide just the right color accents.
In another part of the exhibit we were treated to Chihuly's Icicle pieces. Each icicle is blown glass and then the individual pieces are assembled into either a tower, like this one, or a chandelier which hangs from the ceiling. Just imagine transporting and assembling these glass structures!
This is Radiant Yellow Icicle Chandelier with Royal Blue Icicle Tower in the background.
Is one Icicle Tower not enough? Are you wanting more? OK then, here are three of a kind- Serpentine Green Icicle Towers. Just amazing. I'll stop now, but there will be a Glorious Glass, Part 2 coming soon. Chihuly's work is so electrifying!
10 comments:
Just Spectacular.
Amazing pieces! 😍
Thank you for sharing these pictures of Chihuly glass! I really admire his work, and particularly enjoyed a PBS special ("Chihuly in the Hot Shop") where his different glass-blowers created different shapes and designs. I've never seen these icicle towers, and indeed, they are amazing! Like you speculated, how in the world are these pieces safely moved and then reassembled? I can't imagine a semi-truck racing along a highway, safely transporting such valuables. The colors and light through them are incredible. I appreciate seeing what you saw.
Thank you for sharing this. I have never seen the Navajo blanket cylinders. The picture of you standing in front of all those blankets was stunning.
Lovely glass exibition. Would like to see it in Europe.
I've seen his work in St. Louis and Nashville and Bentonville AR - it is indeed inspirational and fabulous and so much more. You shared some excellent photos!!!
So glad you stopped by my blog, Nancy. Since you have a pop up comment window, I can leave comments here.
I was delighted to see the Chihuly glass. I have never seen his lip wrap. It was definitely new to me. I loved the photo with the translucent backdrop. I was also impressed with the Icicle glass. Our museum has a Chihuly hanging from the ceiling, but it is NOTHING like this beauty. I agree transporting those would certainly be tedious. I was most impressed by how the tips change colors. I look forward to seeing Part 2.
I forgot to mention, we have the more traditional "flowers" in one exhibit he created.
The Navajo wool trade blankets are stunning...as is all of their work. Any of Chihuly's work is awesome...think this is the first I've seen the Icicle pieces. WOW
I love these glass cylinders! I would imagine with the lighting they are beautiful. Something about glass. Whether it is beads, a unique glass to drink out of, glass is so versatile.
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