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| Gardens of Glass | |
| An exhibition of glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly is being held at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew through to the 15 January 2006 (opened 28 May 2005). The Chihuly exhibition is the first of its kind in Europe and is designed to respond to the living collections, landscape and architecture. Some very particular and novel glass sculptures are placed free-standing in amongst the vegetation in the glasshouses and round and about the Gardens. Many of these sculptures fit in harmoniously with the plants on display and Chihuly uses words like ‘organic, wild, natural’ in his work. Some of these pieces would make a perfect permanent display in any garden, conservatory or open living space as they would as a temporary display at EUROFLORA 2006. The delicate and intricate shapes, colours and forms interact with specific plants and the surrounding vegetation but also with the play of light and water. They can be illuminated at night to create many different colour effects. Chihuly sees a very strong connection between glass and ice and water. The success of these sculptures is even more suprising when one thinks of the incredibly short time available in which to work the syrup-like moulten glass. The long curling pieces are manhandled with battons by several people at once to create the different shapes. The final pieces are the result of extraordinary team work in the factories led by Chihuly’s artistic vision and direction, preceded by drawings and decisions on colour. Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, Washington. After a period of study and teaching glass design, he was awared a Fellowship to work at the Venini factory in Venice, Italy. Subsequently he has led the international development of glass as a fine art. He has travelled very widely to learn and to teach and in every case he has left behind him a team of creative artists to further develop this art-form. For further information see www.kew.org and the excellent website of the Chihuly Studio, 1111 NW 50th Street, Seattle, WA 98107-5120, USA. Fax 001 2067818707, e-mail: jenniferl@chihuly.com www.chihuly.com |
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