Culture Fiend Blog

New Exhibit

First Look: Chihuly Garden and Glass

Sneak a peek at the largest collection of Dale Chihuly’s glasswork in the world. No touching!

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 16, 2012 at 01:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

All photos by Laura Dannen.

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Following a class of grammar school children through a building full of (very breakable) glass art was a great way to spend my Wednesday morning. It was just too funny. The teachers were, to put it mildly, terrified; they circled the kids like riot police waiting for the first bottle to be thrown. But credit the students for being on their best behavior. They knew the drill: No touching. No running. No shoving. And the adults weren’t off the hook: No food, drinks, or giant purses for you, ma’am. Just look at the 15-foot Sealife Tower and name the sea creatures in the installation, please.

So went my walkthrough of the new Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center, the multimillion-dollar, 1.5-acre exhibition of Dale Chihuly’s glasswork that officially opens May 21. Not everyone’s pleased that this prime public space went to a private gallery, and truth be told, it’d be easy to breeze through the building in 15 minutes and come out the other side wondering where your $15 bucks went. Seattleites have grown so accustomed to seeing “Chihulys” around town— Macchias on tables in Mercer Island homes, or sets for Bluebeard’s Castle at Benaroya Hall—that we might dismiss what’s familiar.

That’s why I’m glad I tailed the schoolkids. It forced me to take more time in each room and appreciate the attention to detail: how Chihuly figured out a way to thread colors of molten glass like one might weave a basket or blanket, or how swans and dolphins appear subtly in his Chandeliers. Most impressive is his newest (and largest) creation, the 1,400-odd individual Persians that comprise the Glasshouse installation (see above). The airy greenhouse space—with a prime view of the Space Needle—is a bright, welcoming spot that opens onto a plaza and outdoor garden of Mille Fiori. It’s a glass Eden both inside and out.

Despite the nine galleries offering a retrospective of Chihuly’s career, and a theater with short videos on loop showing the artist’s process, I found myself wishing for more—more to read about each piece, or video panels in each room showing the making of the art. I wanted an education in glassblowing; instead, I spent a morning with students in Chihuly 101.

View the slideshow for a preview of the Chihuly Garden and Glass.

Chihuly Garden and Glass
Opens May 21 at Seattle Center
Mon–Thu 11–8, Fri–Sun 10–9, $12–$19

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Tags: exhibit, Seattle Center, Chihuly, First Look, Spring Arts 2012

Seattle Center

Update: Chihuly Glass Exhibit Expected to Open in Late May

Then again, you know how construction projects go.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 07, 2012 at 10:45AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Photo: Will Austin

From a Fun Forest to a Glass Forest…

Over on Facebook (and confirmed on our end), reps for the new Chihuly Garden and Glass are talking about a late May opening for the Seattle Center exhibit, soon to be the largest collection of Dale Chihuly’s glasswork in the world. It’s still a projection, but it’s also the closest thing to an opening date they’ve offered, so we’ll take it.

In April 2011, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved the glass empire at the site of the Fun Forest—a space Chihuly’s work could occupy for the next 30 years, all but securing the Northwest artist’s local legacy. The numbers were staggering: a projected $25 million for construction, $50 million for glass, and a 1.5-acre property with an outdoor exhibit that could be seen from the Space Needle. And maybe from space. “Every artist wants their work to be seen by as many people as possible,” Chihuly said. “It’s a dream come true.”

The exhibition is divided into nine galleries—which include the neon Glass Forest, a 15-foot Sealife Tower, and the largest collection of Mille Fiori—in addition to a 70-seat theater, gift shop, cafe, and a 4,500-square-foot Glasshouse, home to Chihuly’s largest and latest work (pictured). For more on the making of the exhibit, read our Spring Arts Preview.

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Tags: Seattle Center, Chihuly, Spring Arts 2012

A&E News Briefs: New Hire at Intiman, Chief Curator at the Henry Is Out

And more on that Chihuly guy.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Aug 24, 2011 at 12:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

In his two years with Intiman, Andrew Russell has served as associate producer and directed last season’s The Thin Place.

THEATER The much-beleaguered Intiman Theatre, which shut in April due to severe budget problems, showed signs of hope today when the company hired former associate producer Andrew Russell to serve as consulting artistic director through October 1. Intiman has yet to throw in the towel. (Seattle Times)

VISUAL ART Henry Art Gallery announced today that chief curator Dr. Elizabeth Brown will leave in mid-October after 10 years with the Henry. No reason was given for her departure, though director Sylvia Wolf did note “a new strategic plan” to reshape the Henry, including a nationwide search for a deputy director of art and education. Brown most notably curated last year’s I Myself Have Seen It: Photography and Kiki Smith exhibit. (Slog)

VISUAL ART Seattle Center broke ground on the new 1.5 acre Dale Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit yesterday, which is slated to open in time for the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair in April 2012. It will be the largest collection of Chihuly glasswork in the world. (Seattle P-I)

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Tags: Henry Art Gallery, Intiman Theatre, Seattle Center, Chihuly

Seattle Center

Chihuly Gets his Glass Show, KEXP Gets the Northwest Rooms

But where will the art in the Bumbershoot arts festival go?

Posted by: Eric Scigliano on Dec 15, 2010 at 04:00PM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Through a glass, brightly: the proposed Chihuly gallery at Seattle Center, as rendered by Studio 216 for Owen Richard Architects.

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In the end, to no one’s surprise, Chihuly won. Last spring, the city and the Wright clan, development powerhouses and owners of the Space Needle, announced a plan to build a “museum” of Dale Chihuly’s glasswork on Seattle Center’s south Fun Forest site. Howls rose about leasing such a prominent public site to a private gallery, even if the money was good. So the city invited more proposals. This morning Mayor McGinn joined Seattle Center officials, City Council parks chair Sally Bagshaw, KEXP-FM station manager Tom Mara, Jeff Wright (of the Space Needle-owning Wrights), and Chihuly’s wife Leslie to announce that, after duly considering eight, they’d settled on…. Chihuly. With some sweeteners: The Wrights will contribute $1 million for a playground on the site, and another $1 million to maintain it. And KEXP, which proposed moving its offices and studios (now in cramped quarters nearby) to the Fun Forest arcade, will get the Northwest Rooms at Seattle Center’s northwest corner.

McGinn, an avid rock fan with big support in the music community, waxed ebullient: “We had an argument over whether I should say KEXP is the coolest radio station in the universe,” he joked, nodding to aides. “Let’s just say they are very, very cool. They represent so much of Seattle’s spirit. They will activate this site.”

Politically, it’s a brilliant two-fer: Scruffy indie radio and glassy glam may not seem a natural pairing, but including homegrown KEXP deflects complaints that it’s all being done for tourist dollars. At the same time, KEXP, like Chihuly, is reaching across the globe as a pioneer in webcast programming. “They will be promoting Seattle Center nationally and internationally day after day,” said McGinn. “It’s an economic development tool if nothing else,” crowed Bagshaw.

McGinn lauded one other proposal, Open Platform, a flexible open space for various arts, and promised to pursue it in developing the north Fun Forest site, on the other side of the monorail. He did not mention the Northwest Native Cultural Center or any of five other proposals. But when I asked he said, “We want to work partner with people and work with them to help them develop ideas like the Northwest Native Cultural Center.”

No one mentioned the knock-on effects of turning the Northwest Rooms over to KEXP. Their gallery-sized spaces have become the main refuge of the visual arts at Bumbershoot, a festival they originally spawned but which has since become increasingly dedicated to the types of music played on KEXP. (Likewise at Folklife.) I asked Bumbershoot’s producer, One Reel Festivals chief John Stone, what would happen to the art. He was philosophical: “Seattle Center is a dynamic space. It evolves over time…. Visual arts are a historical component of the festival, and our goal is to continue to feature them. Where and how exactly, I can’t say at this point.”

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Tags: Seattle Center, KEXP, Chihuly

Seattle Center

Follow the Money—Straight to Chihuly

The Fun Forest advisory panel opts for good financing over “good ideas.”

Posted by: Eric Scigliano on Sep 21, 2010 at 09:00AM Speech Bubble 0 Comments

Once the Fun Forest flew to Mars; now money woes bring Seattle Center back to earth.

Ho hum. On Friday a city advisory panel recommended replacing Seattle Center’s Fun Forest site with exactly what the Center administration picked before public outcry forced it to entertain alternatives: a private Dale Chihuly Exhibition (don’t call it a “museum”) with public play space and fenced-off “art garden.” The panel found that the Space Needle Corporation, which wants to build the exhibit, was much better funded, organized, and prepared than eight challengers for the site. No surprise; the company had many months to hash out details with the Center, while the others had just two months to cobble together proposals. (See more on the plans here.)

The only other proposals the commission deemed (barely) ready for prime time come from other established entities: the existing Fun Forest operation and KEXP-FM, which already stages concerts at the nearby Mural Amphitheatre. KEXP wants to move its offices, studios, and performing space to the Center. But the panel deemed its financing thin and noted a fatal flaw: It doesn’t make sense to consign prime public space to offices.

Two ad hoc groups, the Northwest Native Cultural Center and Open Platform, got plaudits for their “good” and “exciting” ideas, but didn’t persuade the panel they could pull them off. Come back and do something else at the Center, it suggested. The NNCC in particular scored points for its broader cause: The panel concurred that “there be should be greater representation of ‘Seattle’s heritage and Native people from whom Seattle Center derives its name.

It’s both tantalizing and dismaying to imagine what these and other challengers might have come up with if they’d had time to solidify their proposals, round up financing, and even collaborate. KEXP and Open Platform have already discussed teaming up; how about open space backers and the Native Cultural Center?

But Seattle Center’s not giving them time. It’s determined to have something up and open by April 2012 for the 50th anniversary of the world’s fair that created the Center—a short-term imperative with long-term implications. On that schedule you get Chihuly, the artist who best says “Seattle” to the rest of the world, and whom Seattle most loves to hate.

This project will likely reinforce the Eye-Patched One’s standing on both counts. And it will boost either the Center’s budget or the city general fund, depending on which gets to keep the $350,000 annual rent promised for the exhibit’s first years. That’s just half what the Fun Forest paid in better times, but it’s the biggest take going these days.

The review panel, in its report, insists it didn’t base its recommendation on these revenues but admits it would be “remiss” not to note them. But Chihuly’s backers haven’t been shy about waving their checkbook and touting their project’s financial benefits. And so, as in most such civic showdowns, from streetcars to sports stadiums, the big money is winning again.

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Tags: Seattle Center, KEXP, Chihuly, Fun Forest