Columbia, SC – The Columbia Museum of Art brings the exhibition Dale Chihuly: Seaforms to South Carolina this fall. Opening on September 5th and running through November 30th, Dale Chihuly: Seaforms  includes approximately 35 glassworks and preliminary sketches from his Seaform series – colorful, undulating shell-like forms within forms, inspired by the artist’s love of the sea. Chihuly is widely recognized as the world's premier glass artist and has been the subject of many books, critical essays and PBS specials.

Chihuly’s Seaforms are reminiscent of sea creatures and shells, yet they are unpredictable abstract configurations with a transparency and colorful luminosity. Families of Seaforms are large vessels with smaller and smaller shapes nestled within them. The accompanying sketches give insight into the artist’s creative process, and are beautiful artworks on their own. Chihuly’s Seaforms were created over a 14-year period during the 1980s and ’90s. Seattle glass artist Dale Chihuly revolutionized the Studio Glass movement by expanding its original notion of the solitary artist working in a studio, to the idea of collaborative teams with a division of labor within the creative process. His achievements as a powerhouse of innovation have influenced the world of contemporary craft, and his art has delighted people around the world.

Chihuly exploits the spontaneity of the glass-blowing medium and embraces it rather than subjugating it to his will as traditional craftsmen have done. People of all ages respond to his brilliant colors and complex and organic shapes. 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.

Chihuly’s art can be found in more than 225 museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Louvre (Paris), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Whitney Museum (NY). Chihuly has completed more than 150 public installations around the world.

Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by Dr. and Mrs. Ronald C. Rogers. Supporting sponsorship has been provided by the House of Frames and Paintings.

The Columbia Museum of Art is South Carolina's premier international art museum and houses an extraordinary collection of European and American art. Founded in 1950, the Museum opened its new building on Main Street in 1998 with 25 galleries. The collections include masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, works by significant furniture and silver makers, and modern and contemporary art. In recent years the Museum’s collection of Asian art and Antiquities has grown through generous gifts to the collection. Of particular interest are Sandro Botticelli's

General Info: 803.799.2810  Website: www.columbiamuseum.org