Dale Chihuly

CHRONOLOGY
1941
Born September 20 in Tacoma, Washington, to George Chihuly and Viola
Magnuson Chihuly

1957
Older Brother and only sibling, George, is killed in a Navy Air Force training
accident in Pensacola, Florida.

1958
His father suffers a fatal heart attack at age fifty-one. His mother goes to work to support herself and Dale.

1959
Graduates from high school in Tacoma and enrolls in the College of Puget Sound (now the University of Puget Sound). Transfers to the University of Washington in Seattle to study interior design and architecture.

1962
Travels to Florence to study art. Goes to Paris and the Middle East for the first time.

1963
Works on a kibbutz in the Negev Desert. Meets architect Robert Landsman. Redirected after meeting Landsman, he returns to the University of Washington and studies under Hope Foote and Warren Hill.

1964
While still a student, receives the Seattle Weavers Guild Award for his innovative use of glass and fibers.

1965
Receives B.A. in Interior Design from the University of Washington. Textile designer Jack Lenor Larsen becomes a mentor and friend. Experimenting on his own, Chihuly blows his first glass bubble, using colored flat glass and metal pipe.

1966
Enters the University of Wisconsin at Madison on a full scholarship to study glass under Harvey Littleton.

1967
Receives M.S. in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin. Enrolls at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, where he begins his exploration of environmental works using neon, argon and blown glass. Italo Scanga lectures at RISD, and the two begin a lifelong friendship.
They consider themselves brothers.

1968
Receives M.F.A. in Ceramics from RISD. Awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant and a Fulbright Fellowship, enabling him to travel and work in Europe. Becomes the first American glassblower to work in the prestigious Venini Fabrica on the island of Murano. Returns to the United States and spends the summer teaching at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine.

1969
Meets glass masters Erwin Eisch in Germany and Jaroslava Brychtovti and Stanislav Libensky in Czechoslovakia. Returning to the United States, Chihuly joins RISD faculty as an instructor in Ceramics. Establishes the glass program at RISD.

1971
The Pilchuck Glass School is founded with the support of Anne Gould Hauberg and John Hauberg. Works with John Landon and James Carpenter to develop Pilchuck, which will have a profound impact on artists working in glass worldwide. He resumes teaching at RISD and creates pivotal works 20, 000 Pound Ice and Neon and Glass Forest #1and #2 with Carpenter.

1974
Tours European glass centers with Thomas Buechner of the Corning Museum of Glass and Paul Schulze of Steuben Glass. Upon returning to the United States, he builds a glass shop for the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

1975
At RISD, begins Navajo Blanket Cylinders. Kate Elliot and later Flora Mace fabricate the complex thread drawings. Begins Irish and Ulysses Cylinders with Seaver Leslie; Mace executes the glass drawings.

1976
An automobile accident in England leaves him without sight in his left eye and with permanent damage to his right ankle and foot. Returns to Providence to serve as Head of the Department of Sculpture and the Program in Glass at RISD.

1977
Inspired by Northwest Coast Indian baskets, he begins the Basket series at Pilchuck over the summer.

1978
Meets William Morris, and they begin a close, eight-year working relationship. A solo show, Baskets and Cylinders: Recent Glass by Dale Chihuly is curated by Michael W. Monroe at the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1979
Dislocates his shoulder and must relinquish the gaffer position for good. Morris becomes his chief gaffer. Chihuly begins to make drawings as a way to communicate his designs.

1980
Resigns as Head of the Program in Glass at RISD. Returns there periodically during the 1980s as artist-in-residence. Begins Seaforms series at Pilchuck.

1981
Begins Macchia series, using up to three hundred colors of glass.

1982
First major book, Chihuly Glass, designed by RISD colleague and friend Malcom Grear, is published.

1983
Returns to the Pacific Northwest after sixteen years on the East Coast.

1984
Begins work on "Soft Cylinder" series, with Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick executing the glass drawings.

1985
Creates several site-specific installations, including Pink and Gold Braun Seaforms for the Stouffer Madison Hotel and Puget Sound Forms for the Seattle Aquarium. Experiments with Flower Forms.

1986
Begins Persian series, with Martin Blank as gaffer. With the opening of Objets de Terre at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre, in Paris, he becomes one of only four American artists to have had a one-person exhibition at the Louvre, Chihuly: Color, Glass, and Form published by Kodansha, Tokyo.

1987
Establishes his first hotshop. Donates permanent retrospective collection to the Tacoma Art Museum in honor of his brother and father. Begins association with artist Parks Anderson, commencing with the Rainbow Room Frieze at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

1988
Begins Venetian series. Working from Chihuly's drawings, Lino Tagliapietra serves as gaffer.

1989
With Italian glass masters Tagliapietra, Pino Signoretto, and a team of glassblowers at Pilchuck, begins Putti Venetian series. Working with Tagliapietra, Chihuly creates Ikebana series Venetians: Dale Chihuly is published by Twin Palms Publisher.

1990
Purchases the historic Pocock Building on Lake Union, realizing his dream of being on the water in Seattle. Renovates the building and names it The Boathouse for use as a studio hotshop, archives and residence. Travels to Japan.

1991
Begins Niijima Float series, with Rich Royal as gaffer. Completes large-scale architectural installations, including ones for the GTE World Headquarters and the Yasui Konpira-gu Shinto Shrine in Kyoto, Japan.

1992
Begins Chandelier series with large-scale hanging sculptures for the exhibition Dale Chihuly: Installations. 1961-1992, curated by Patterson Sims at the Seattle Art Museum. Honored as the first National Living Treasure by the Institute for Human Potential, University of North Carolina, Wilmington.

1993
Designs sets for Seattle Opera production of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande. The Pilchuck Stumps are created during this project. Begins Piccolo Venetian series with Tagliapietra. Creates 100,000 Pounds of Ice and Neon as a temporary installation in the Tacoma Dome. Chihuly: Form From Fire and Chihuly alla Macchia are published.

1994
Chihuly at Union Station, five large-scale installations for Tacoma's Union Station, a Federal Courthouse, is sponsored by the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma and organized by the Tacoma Art Museum. Hilltop Artists in Residence, a glassblowing program for at-risk youths in Tacoma, Washington, is created by friend Kathy Kaperick; Chihuly assists with instruction of youths and is a major contributor. Portland Press publishes Chihuly Baskets and inaugurates a series of annual Chihuly Studio Editions. Receives the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.

1995
Cerulean Blue Macchia with Chartreuse Lip Wrap is added to the White House Collection of American Crafts. Work begins on a project to develop the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and to design and construct the Chihuly Bridge of Glass. Chihulv Over Venice begins with a glassblowing session in June in Nuutajiirvi, Finland, and a subsequent blow at the Waterford Crystal Factory. Creates Chihuly e Spoleto installation for the 38th Spoleto Festival of the Two Worlds, in Spoleto, Italy. Chihuly Seaforms is published by Portland Press.

1996
Creates a major installation for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Governor's Ball following the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood, California, Chihuly Over Venice continues with a blow in Monterrey, Mexico. Installs Chihuly Over Venice, fourteen Chandeliers created and exhibited at various prestigious sites in that city. Chihuly Over Venice begins its national tour at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchases the Ballard Building in Seattle for use as mock-up and studio space. Creates his first permanent outdoor installation, Icicle Creek Chandelier. Portland Press publishes Chihuly Over Venice and Chihuly Persians.

1997
In his newly renovated Ballard Building, builds a research lab for working with plastics and begins the Polymar Project. Chihuly is published by Harry N. Abrams, New York. A permanent installation of Chihuly's work opens at the Hakone Glass Forest, Ukai Museum, in Hakone, Japan. The largest-ever Chihuly exhibition, Chihuly Over Venice in combination with Chihulv: The George R. Stroemple Collection, opens at the Portland Press Art Museum in Oregon.

1998
Hilltop Artists in Residence program expands to Taos, New Mexico, to work with the Taos Pueblo. Two large Chandeliers are created for Benaroya Hall, the Seattle Symphony's new home. Chihuly's largest sculpture to date, the Fiori di Como, is commissioned for the lobby of the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. Creates four permanent installations-Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, Crystal Gate, Atlantis Chandelier-for the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas.

1999
Begins Jerusalem Cylinder series. In celebration of the millennium, Chihuly mounts his most ambitious exhibition to date: Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000, for which he creates fifteen installations at the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem. Travels to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, to unveil an eighteen-foot Chandelier gracing the main entrance of the museum. Returns to Jerusalem in October to create a sixty-foot wall from twenty-four massive blocks of ice.

2000
Designs an installation for the White House Millennium Celebration. Creates La Tour de Lumière sculpture as part of the exhibition Contemporary American Sculpture in Monte-Carlo. Marlborough Gallery represents Chihuly in New York and Monte-Carlo. Over a million visitors enter the Tower of David Museum to see Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000, breaking the world attendance record for an exhibition during 1999-2000.

Selected Museum Collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

American Craft Museum, New York, New York

American Glass Museum, Millville, New Jersey

Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Art Museum of Arizona State, Temple, Arizona

Auckland Museum, Auckland, New Zealand

Australian National Gallery, Canberra

Azabu Arts and Crafts Museum of Tokyo, Japan

Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland

Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, Washington

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama

Boca Raton Museum, Boca Raton, Florida

Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Chrysler Museum of Fine Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Cleveland Art Museum, Cleveland, Ohio

Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio

Contemporary Arts Center of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii

Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Design, New York, New York

Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California

Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

De Cordova Museum Sculpture Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado

Dowse Art Museum, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama

Galerie d' Art Contemporain, Nice, France

Glasmuseum Ebeltoft, Ebeltoft, Denmark

Glasmuseum Frauenau, Frauenau, Germany

Glasmuseum Wertheim, Germany

Grand Rapids Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Haaretz Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel

Hawke's Bay Exhibition Centre, Napier, New Zealand

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia

Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Hokkaido, Japan

Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii

Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Selected Museum Collections, Cont.

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana

Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

J.B. Speed Art Museum of Art, Louisville, Kentucky

Jesse Besser Museum, Alpena, Michigan

Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington

Kestner Museum, Hanover, Germany

Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois

Kunstammlugen der Veste Coburg, Germany

Kunstindustrimuseum Kopenhagen, Denmark

Kunstmuseum, Dusseldorf, Germany

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wasau, Wisconsin

Lobmetr Museum, Vienna, Austria

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida

Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connectitcut

Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin

Manawatu Museum, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey

Museo del Vidrio, Monterrey, Mexico

Musee d' Art Moderne et d' Art Contemporain, Nice France

Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Paris, France

Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland

Musee des Beaux Arts et de la Ceramique, Rouen, France

Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland

Museum Boyman Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, West Germany

Museum of Furkunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany

Museum of Art and Archaeology, Columbia, Missouri

Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Desib~, Providence, Rhode Island

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois

Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts

Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

Museum of Modern Art, Nice, France

Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan

National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington , D.C.

National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana

Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California

Niijima Glass Art Center, Niijima, Japan

Palm Beach Community College Art Museum, Lake Worth, Florida

Public and Corporate Collections and Installations

American Embassy, London, England

American Embassy, Paris, France

Australian Arts Council, Sydney, Australia

Bass Brothers Enterprises, Fort Worth, Texas

California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California

Chancellor Park, San Diego, California

Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, New York

Columbia Tower Club, Seattle, Washington

Columbus Visitors' Center, Columbus, Indiana

Corning World Headquarters, Corning, New York

Crafts Council of Australia, Sydney, Australia

Davis, Wright, Tremaine, Seattle, Washington

Dreyfus Corporation, New York, New York

Fleet National Bank, Providence, Rhode Island

Foster & Marshall, Inc., Spokane, Washington

Frank Russell Building, Tacoma, Washington

Genesee Partners, Bellevue, Washington

Dr. Eugene W. Goertzen, Seattle, Washington

Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington

GTE Telephone Operations Headquarters, Irving, Texas

The Hearn Company, Chicago, Illinois

Harold Hess Company, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Hillhaven Corporation, Tacoma, Washington

Hyatt Hotel, Adelaide, Australia

IBM Corporation, New York, New York

Indonesian Embassy, Washington , D.C.

Japan-American Society, UNICO Properties, Inc., Union Square, Seattle, Washington

Johnson Wax Collection, Racine, Wisconsin

King and Spalding, Washington , D.C.

Francis and Sydney Lewis Foundation, Richmond, Virginia

Little Caesars, Inc., Detroit, Michigan

Liz Claiborne Store, New York, New York

Madison Stouffer Hotel, Seattle, Washington

MCI Communications World Headquarters, Washington , D.C.

Mercer International, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia

Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington

National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C.

Ohio Arts Council, Library of Science and Engineering, Ohio State University,

Columbus, Ohio

Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Toledo, Ohio

Paccar, Inc., Bellevue, Washington

Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington

Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington

Public and Corporate Collections and Installations, Cont.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Newark, New Jersey

Rainbow Room Pavilion, Rockefeller Center, New York, New York

Ritz-Carlton Millenia Hotel, Singapore

Safeco Insurance Companies, Seattle, Washington

Seaman's Bank, New York, New York

Seattle Aquarium, Seattle, Washington

Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, Washington

SS Oceanic Grace, Tokyo, Japan

Shaare Emeth Synagogue, St. Louis, Missouri

Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers, Seattle, Washington

Sheraton Hotel, Tacoma, Washington

Simpson Investment Company, Seattle, Washington

Simpson Paper Company, San Francisco, California

Sleeping Lady, Leavenworth, Washington

Stone Container Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

Swedish Hospital, Seattle, Washington

Tacoma Financial Center, Tacoma, Washington

Tropicana Products Inc., Bradenton, Florida

Union Station, Tacoma, Washington (until 1999)

United States Border Station, Blaine, Washington

University Hospital, Seattle, Washington

University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington

Meany Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

U.S. Bank Centre, Seattle, Washington

Vitro Vidrio Piano, Monterrey, Mexico

Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Washington

Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri

Weyerhauser Company, Tacoma, Washington

Yasui Konpira-gu Shinto Shrine, Kyoto, Japan