PHOENIX, AZ.- Dale Chihuly, the American artist renowned for revolutionizing the studio glass movement, debuted a new exhibition, Chihuly in The Desert, in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona on Friday, December 3. The two-part exhibition takes place at Desert Botanical Garden and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Chihuly’s installations harmonize with the beauty and diversity of the environment, showcasing a remarkable confluence of American art and architecture set amid the magnificent backdrop of the Sonoran Desert. Spanning across two iconic Arizona locations, the installations are featured across multiple settings – inside the buildings, on the lawns, in the water, and emerging from the desert itself. The exhibition features new works being shown for the first time and is on view to the public through June 19, 2022.

“I’m thrilled to share my work with visitors of these iconic locations,” said Dale Chihuly. “Returning to Desert Botanical Garden and presenting my work for the first time at Taliesin West is a special moment for me and I hope those who see the exhibition will experience something beautiful and unexpected.”

Dale Chihuly is known for ambitious architectural installations in cities, museums, and gardens around the world. He utilizes a variety of media to realize his creative vision, including glass, paint, charcoal, neon, ice, and Polyvitro.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S TALIESIN WEST

Chihuly in the Desert at Taliesin West features installations that combine art, architecture, and nature by pairing the work of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Chihuly in a way that has never been done before. Specifically situated to be in dialogue with the iconic buildings and landscape, Chihuly works on view include Alabaster and Amber Spire Towers at the Entry Plaza; Red Reeds and Niijima Floats at the Front Pond; Black Saguaros and Scarlet Icicles on the Studio Lawn; Golden Celedon Baskets in The Garden Room; Fire Amber Herons at the Tower Pool and Marine Blue and Citron Tower at the Garden Squares.

DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN

Chihuly in the Desert at Phoenix’s renowned Desert Botanical Garden showcases Chihuly’s stunning, large-scale installations nestled among a world-class collection of desert plants. Featuring installations on the Garden’s trails complemented by a major indoor gallery in Dorrance Hall, the dynamic exhibition includes never-before-seen installations and is a must-see throughout the seasons. The works on view include Fiori Boat, Aqua Blue and Amber Chandelier, Calendula Persians, and more, situated in dialogue with the majestic Sonoran Desert ecology, underscoring Desert Botanical Garden’s mission since 1939 to conserve and research desert plants and their habitats in the Sonoran Desert.

Chihuly’s work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Corning Museum of Glass. Major exhibitions include Chihuly Over Venice (1995-96), Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem (1999), de Young Museum in San Francisco (2008), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2011), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (2012), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada (2013), Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (2016), Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas (2017), Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands (2018), Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, U.K (2019), and Gardens by the Bay, Singapore (2020). Chihuly Garden and Glass, a long-term exhibition located at the Seattle Center, opened in 2012.