"Chihuly at the VandA"
2001-06-21 until 2001-10-21
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, , UK

The first extensive UK exhibition of glass installations by the internationally acclaimed Seattle artist, Dale Chihuly, will go on display today at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It will showcase the wide and breathtaking diversity of forms developed by Dale Chihuly. Celebrated for its rich colour and extravagant shapes his work reveals an organic subtlety and textural refinement.

Chihuly at the V&A will run from the V&As main entrance, in a straight line through the ground floor galleries culminating in a dramatic glass installation in the V&As Pirelli Gardens.

Chihulys work owes much to the grand and historic tradition of Venetian glass. Despite its ancestry, Chihulys glass is technically and sculpturally ambitious on a scale unmatched by any other maker. It is now a by-word for all that is spectacular and exciting in contemporary glass.

The V&A already houses the only major work on public display in the UK by Dale Chihuly - a five metre high chandelier designed specifically for the Museums main entrance.

Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. In 1968, Chihuly was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to work at the illustrious Venini factory in Venice, Italy. In 1971 he co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School, in Stanwood, Washington. With this international glass centre, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass blowing as a studio art and the broader contemporary interest in glass as an expressive medium. Chihuly has been honoured as Americas first National Living Treasure. His work can be seen in the collections of over 180 museums world-wide.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for United Kingdom

Other Important Exhibitions in London