Major Exhibition of Dale Chihuly Works to Open at New York Botanical Garden This Spring

  • NEW YORK, New York
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  • March 27, 2017

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Dale Chihuly, Sapphire Star, 2016

CHIHULY, a major new exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden in spring 2017, will spotlight world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly’s bold innovation and experimentation in a variety of media throughout his celebrated career.

At a Press Preview Luncheon at Grand Hyatt New York on January 12, 2017, Chihuly greeted guests via video from his Studio in Seattle, where he is working with his team in preparation for his first major garden exhibition in more than ten years in New York.

CHIHULY will feature approximately 20 installations as well as drawings and early works revealing the evolution and development of Chihuly’s artistic process. Among the singular sights, one of the new installations will draw inspiration from Chihuly’s storied 1975 Artpark installation. Set within NYBG’s landmark landscape and buildings, this groundbreaking exhibition will run from April 22 through October 29, 2017.

“The New York Botanical Garden is the perfect setting for Dale Chihuly’s art,” said Gregory Long, Chief Executive Officer and The William C. Steere Sr. President of NYBG. “Our historic landscape is an open-air museum, providing a thrilling opportunity for our visitors to see the spectacular glass sculptures, especially when they will be lit at night. The exhibition will be a more holistic look at the legacy of Chihuly the artist."

Dale Chihuly, who celebrated his 75th birthday in September, expressed his enthusiasm for the highly anticipated show at The New York Botanical Garden. The dramatic vistas of NYBG through changing seasons will be a showcase for Chihuly’s dynamic works of art with their organic shapes in brilliant colors.

Leslie Jackson Chihuly, President and CEO of Chihuly Studio, stated, “I am honored and pleased to be in New York with our team to talk about Dale’s return to The New York Botanical Garden in April 2017. Dale began his journey as an artist more than a half century ago, and he continues to push boundaries and innovate in a variety of media, including paint, sculpture, polyvitro, glass, and neon. He and our team have prepared for this exhibition with the goal of surprising and delighting audiences with exciting new works and installations created specifically for NYBG.”

Several new hand-blown glass sculptures, created specifically for NYBG, will complement the Garden’s landscape and architecture. The water features of the Native Plant Garden and the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyard’s Tropical Pool will be the setting for dramatic installations inspired by Chihuly’s early exploration of the contrast between glass and environment, resulting in a physical expression of light. Chihuly will be re-imagining his Artpark installation that he first created in the summer of 1975 when he was among nearly 40 artists invited to create temporary outdoor works in Lewiston, New York, near Niagara Falls. Using hand-blown sheets of stained glass, the installations were designed to provide contrast between the glass and the surrounding environment, resulting in a physical expression of light. Now at The New York Botanical Garden, Chihuly will revisit this concept, creating two new compositions drawing inspiration from the 1975 installation. The transition from day to night will provide a rare opportunity to view the effects of light as it passes through and illuminates these panels.

The exhibition will feature several dramatic neon sculptures. As a graduate student in the late 1960s and then as a professor at Rhode Island School of Design, Chihuly pioneered innovative applications of neon in his early work. This innovation continued into the ’80s and ’90s, leading to the Tumbleweed, a major element in his exhibitions. During Chihuly’s blockbuster show at 3 NYBG in 2006, the first time he presented a major garden exhibition in New York City, an epicenter of the art world, he further explored his work in neon with the development of the first Neon Tower. Chihuly will revisit these concepts with a new multicolor neon sculpture in the Conservatory Courtyard to take advantage of the location’s reflective qualities. In an homage to the 2006 exhibition, Chihuly’s Blue Herons, originally in the Tropical Pool, will be showcased in a new display within the Haupt Conservatory, itself considered a work of glass art. These graceful forms will be one of many examples of Chihuly sculptures seen in within the grand architecture of the landmark Victorian-style glasshouse.

Other sites for the artist’s creations throughout NYBG’s 250-acre National Historic Landmark landscape include the Lillian and Amy Goldman Fountain of Life, Leon Levy Visitor Center, and Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum. These one-of-a-kind installations will highlight the connections of artwork to the natural world.

In the LuEsther T. Mertz Library’s Art Gallery, visitors will see an exhibition of works on paper by Dale Chihuly alongside his early works. Drawing and painting on paper has been a consistent form of expression for the artist throughout his career. Beginning as a means of communication with his team and creative outlet, his drawings developed into a unique series. Elsewhere in the Mertz Library Building, Chihuly will present a grouping of Fire Orange Baskets, graceful forms first developed in 1977, evoking Northwest Coast Indian baskets. Chihuly sought to replicate the effects of gravity, as it shapes and distorts the medium, creating uniquely asymmetrical artworks. These seemingly effortless sculptures first began in muted colors, typical to the Native American baskets after which they were named, gradually evolving in color and size. Chihuly continues to revisit this series and experiment with scale, color, and composition.

CHIHULY Interactive Guide, made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies, will deliver content to handheld devices that is dynamically customized to the user’s location, transforming how visitors are guided through the installations. 


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