Speaking Volumes

David Chihuly, that is...

There's still time to visit Contemporary Glass: Chihuly and Beyond, an exhibit of glass works on display at The New Britain Museum of American Art. It won't cost you a dime if you take advantage of the museum pass provided by the generosity of Friends of the Library. The pass admits any four persons free. The Chihuly exhibition continues through October 26, 2008.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor exhibition space, you'll view the first impressive and permanent piece to the collection, the 9 ft. x 7 ft. chandelier in all it's sapphire splendor. It is composed of 252 individually blown glass pieces and makes a spectacular focal piece to the rise of the stairway.

Entering the main exhibit room you be dazzled and captured by the works of Chihuly, Tagliapietra and 50 other glass artisans.

The exhibit poses the question, “Is glass art or craft?”. “Glass as an art is a debate in itself – is glass art or is glass craft? This age old discussion, which labels art as an element of human culture created specifically for aesthetic appreciation and craft as something with a ulitarian purpose, certainly comes to mind in this survey of glass objects. Some are decorative, some functional, but all have an inherent aesthetic quality that makes it impossible to label any on of these objects “craft”.
...quoted from the exhibition program ~ NBMAA

Dale Chihuly has been credited with establishing the blown glass form in the art world today. He calls his works strongly autobiographical and many feature flowers in an abstracted form. In 1971 he co-founded the Pilchuck School in Stanwood, Washington and served as its first artistic director until 1989. Read more about Dale Chihuly on his website, www.chihuly.com or read one of the many books about the artist available through interlibrary loan. Our library can offer The Essential Dale Chihuly by William Warmus.

The making of glass and glass blowing has a long, varied and fascinating history. You can finds a great deal of information on the Internet or in books as to its origins and history. Murano, Venice has been a noted glass supplier from the 1200's. Some of the finest glass has been produced here by the most respected artisans.

These books about glassblowing or glass as an art form, both fiction and non-fiction might be of interest:

The Essential Dale Chihuly William Warmus

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture ~ Ross King
Novelist Ross King offers an account of the remarkable design and construction of the largest dome in the world (even today): the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, Italy. Reading with the excitement of a good novel, the book focuses on the innovative techniques used and the social and political context in w