DALE CHIHULY AT PHIPPS ~ GARDENS AND GLASS

Thursday, 10 May 2007 01:54

PITTSBURGH, PA - Opening May 10 and continuing through November 9, Chihuly at Phipps: Gardens & Glass features the work of Seattle-based artist Dale Chihuly in only the seventh installation of its kind in the US. Richard V. Piacentini, Phipps' executive director, recognized that Chihuly's work fit perfectly at Phipps when he visited the first of Chihuly's glasshouse installations at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory in 2002.  "The exhibit was visually stunning, Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures, the surrounding plants and the conservatory itself enhanced each other in a way I never expected," related Piacentini.  “We knew we had to bring Chihuly to Pittsburgh.”  This is one of the featured exhibitions of “Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!”--a year-long celebration.

Since 2002, similar installations took place in Miami, New York, and Atlanta, among other cities.  Each time, the gardens involved set record attendance levels.  Visitors are expected at Phipps from nearby metro areas like Cleveland, Baltimore and Washington, DC.

Timed ticketing, a first for Pittsburgh and necessary for an exhibit of this magnitude, will regulate the flow of visitors.  "Every visitor will select a specific date and time to visit.  This will ensure a positive experience for everyone, especially on weekends," offered Piacentini.  Tickets will be required of all visitors and can be purchased through the Phipps website or a special toll-free number.  Walk-up ticketing is available but not recommended.

Chihuly at Phipps: Gardens & Glass is one of the featured exhibitions of “Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass!”--a year-long celebration created to honor the significant role glass and glass art play in the vibrancy of the Pittsburgh region--past, present and future.  Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass! includes hundreds of cultural events, activities and attractions at more than 50 venues across the region.

To learn more about this special celebration, visit www.pittsburghcelebrates.org

About Dale Chihuly
For the past 40 years, Dale Chihuly has done more to raise the mainstream public’s interest in glass as a fine art form than any other artist of his time.  His innovations in glass blowing, combined with a passion for color and seemingly endless creative energy, have resulted in spectacular works that are instantly identifiable for their vibrancy and fluidity of form.  Chihuly’s spectacular creations can be found in more than 200 museums worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Dale Chihuly is most frequently lauded for revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement by expanding its original premise of the solitary artist working in a studio environment to encompass the notion of collaborative teams and a division of labor within the creative process.  However, Chihuly's contribution extends well beyond the boundaries both of this movement and even the field of glass: his achievements have influenced contemporary art in general. Chihuly’s practice of using teams has led to the development of complex, multipart sculptures of dramatic beauty that place him in the leadership role of moving blown glass out of the confines of the small, precious object and into the realm of large-scale contemporary sculpture.  In fact, Chihuly deserves credit for establishing the blown glass form as an accepted vehicle for installation and environmental art beginning in the late twentieth century and continuing today.

Stylistically over the past forty years, Chihuly's sculptures in glass have explored color, line, and assemblage.  Although his work ranges from the single vessel to indoor/outdoor site-specific installations, he is best known for his multipart blown compositions.  These works fall into the categories of mini-environments designed for the tabletop as well as large, often serialized forms that are innovatively displayed in groupings on a wide variety of surfaces ranging from pedestals to bodies of natural water.  Masses of these blown forms also have been affixed to specially engineered structures that dominate large exterior or interior spaces.

About Phipps

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a Victorian glasshouse, gardens and tropical forest conservatory in the Schenley Park area of Pittsburgh. During the Chihuly exhibit, Phipps will be open daily 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Wednesday through Friday.  Café Phipps and the Shop at Phipps are open during all Conservatory hours.  Gardens & Glass admission rates are $12.50 for adults, $11.50 for seniors (62 and over) and students with ID, and $7.50 for children ages 2 to 12. Phipps members and children under two are admitted free.  Evening admission is $15.00 for non-members and $7.50 for members.  For more information, call (412) 622-6914 or visit : www.phipps.conservatory.org