Chihuly glass in Botanic Garden

How to lure the fish from its shelter? Using the right bait. How to lure the people out of their houses Saturday morning? Use something colorful and sparkling :)
So, the Dale Chihuly compositions would be the best if you want to lure the families out of houses for walking, watching, enjoying and taking some fresh air. Especially if you offer all this beauty for free :-)

It was a free day in the Denver Botanic Garden and many people were enjoying this nice day walking between sparkling figures made from the glass...

 

Glass is not a very natural material, huh? Except for kimberlite pipes you cannot really find it in the natural environment. It's man made and... unnatural (but very practical). Unless the artist takes the matters in his/her hand and creates something... mmm... unusual... Like Chihuly glass...

Dale Chihuly is famous. Really famous... and for a reason. What he is doing with glass is unbelievable and unimaginable

Born in 1941 and had no interest in continuing his formal education after graduating from highschool. But his mother insisted and he obeyed. He entered college and moved to the University of Washington a year later. Here he learned how to melt and fuse glass and... a year later he dropped out of the university to study art in Florence.

 

He later traveled to the Middle East where he met architect Robert Landsman. Theri meeting and his time abroad spurred Chihuly to return to his studies. In 1963, he took a weaving class where he incorporated glass shards into tapestries.

Chihuly graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interior design. Hmm...

Chihuly began experimenting with glassblowing in 1965, and in 1966 he received a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studied under Harvey Littleton, who had established the first glass program in the United States at the university. In 1967, Chihuly received a Master of Science degree in sculpture. 

In 1976, while Chihuly was in England, he was involved in a head-on car accident that propelled him through the windshield. His face was severely cut by glass and he was blinded in his left eye. After recovering, he continued to blow glass until he dislocated his right shoulder in 1979 while bodysurfing.

In 1983, Chihuly returned to his native Pacific Northwest where he continued to develop his own work at the Pilchuck Glass School, which he had helped to found in 1971.

No longer able to hold the glassblowing pipe, he hired others to do the work. Chihuly explained the change in a 2006 interview, saying "Once I stepped back, I liked the view", and said that it allowed him to see the work from more perspectives, enabling him to anticipate problems earlier. Chihuly's role has been described as "more choreographer than dancer, more supervisor than participant, more director than actor".

San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Erin Glass wrote that she "wonders at the vision of not just the artist Chihuly, but the very successful entrepreneur Chihuly, whose estimated sales by 2004 was reported by The Seattle Times as $29 million.

But what am I talking about? I guess the artist is an interesting subject to talk about but... wouldn't it be better just to look at the work produced by an artist and enjoy it? Especially when we can look at multiple pieces in a bright light on a nice sunny November day...

To see the same place but in the darkness (mostly) click here - Chihuly in Botanic garden

To see the glass artwork under the snow click here - Chihuly Glass under the snow in the Botanic Garden

Pictures were taken on November 06, 2014.