Chihuly: Northwest celebrates the Museum’s 10th anniversary in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center. Opening New Year’s Eve through April 8, 2012, the exhibition will complement the Museum’s reinstallation of its Dale Chihuly glass collection, Illuminations: Rediscovering the Art of Dale Chihuly. Featuring works never before seen in Oklahoma, Chihuly: Northwest includes examples of three decades of the artist’s work. Highlights include the Tabac Baskets Table (2010) and recent works by Chihuly that explore the color white.
The exhibition reveals the artists interest in Native American art and culture, which is seen in the intricate detailing and forms of his Baskets series. Selections from Chihuly’s extensive collection of textiles, including trade blankets manufactured by Pendleton, will also be on view, along with his collection of photogravures from Edward S. Curtis’North American Indian Portfolio (1907–1930). Chihuly: Northwest evokes the Northwest Room of his Boathouse studio in Seattle, which incorporates many of these elements.
This Exhibition is organized by the Oklahoma City Museum of Art in cooperation with Dale Chihuly.
About Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly’s well-grounded academic and practical background includes a B.A. in interior design from the University of Washington, a M.S. in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.F.A. in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and honorary doctorates from the University of Puget Sound and the Rhode Island School of Design. He also was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for work in glass and studied at Italy’s prestigious Venini glass factory on a Fulbright Fellowship.
Chihuly’s work is included in over 200 museum collections, including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and he has received world renown for his extensive glass series, international projects, and large architectural installations such as the Museum’s Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower. The Museum’s collection represents over three decades of Chihuly’s finest work and heralds this brilliant luminist as the most important artist working in glass since Louis Comfort Tiffany.
