Art Deco Perfume Bottle

The Art Glass of Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly, also known as an American sculptor, started his association with glassware in the mid-1960s by taking a related glass blowing program at the University of Wisconsin. After graduating, he continued his education at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he built the Glass Department and taught there for more than a decade (until 1983). By 1967, Chihuly was known to be the first artist who used blown glass, argon, and neon as the material for sculptures. He has also established room-sized installations of art glass sculptures, both in the form of installation and environment arts.

Later, Dale Chihuly eventually had the opportunity to work at the famed Venini glass factory in Venice. In 1971, he co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington and served as the director until 1989. Unfortunately in 1976, this modern glass blowing artist got a tragic auto accident which caused him to lose the sight of his left eye. Due to strong general perception that he will not be able to make any magnificent art glass anymore, he began to lead and teach other glassblowers to create glass blowing sculptures based on his instruction.

During all this time, Chihuly has been well-known for his dazzling, beautiful, and valuable art glass. Aside from his vast range of work, what makes Chihuly's art glass different from those of other artists is that he creates his art to be exuberant, colorful, and one of its kind. Dale Chihuly's studio is popular not only for the beautiful character of the material, colors, and ripped motifs but also for the natural objects he portrays. His main artwork highlights the natural origins of his installations in which his sculptures are placed in natural settings, notably in botanical gardens. This includes beautiful sculptures, baskets, and the absolutely breathtaking chandeliers as well. In addition, Chihuly is one of only three living American artists who have had the honor of a solo exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. So his artworks are valuable - and really expensive! - due to the complicated method of first creating each individual piece of the sculpture and then merging the separate pieces together.

If you wish to see some of his artworks, there are a few major exhibitions running right now, including "Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass" at the Museum of Fine Arts, which is on view until August 2, 2011. For more info about the art glass of Dale Chihuly, you can directly visit his personal website, http://www.chihuly.com/.