DENVER, CO.- Denver Botanic Gardens will present the Rocky Mountain Region’s first major outdoor exhibition of artwork by celebrated American artist, Dale Chihuly. The exhibition will be on view at the York street location June 14 – November 30, 2014. Informed by nature, each installation responds to surrounding plants, flowers and architecture. Chihuly’s elegant sculptures – ranging in size and style from small water floats to a 30-foot tower – will add bold colors and dramatic beauty to the Gardens’ 24-acre urban oasis.
Site-specific sculpture installations will be presented in 12 locations throughout the Gardens. A looping video will feature a comprehensive survey of his work and process. Shop at the Gardens will offer a retail gallery of original Chihuly works. No artwork will be on view at Mordecai Children’s Garden or the Chatfield site.
“We are thrilled to welcome Chihuly to Denver Botanic Gardens,” says Brian Vogt, CEO of the Gardens. “This special opportunity will bring an internationally recognized artist to the Denver metro area and the Rocky Mountain West. The iconic artwork will enhance the Gardens’ living collection in a powerful, yet graceful way that is at once familiar and other-worldly.”
Born in 1941 in Tacoma, Washington, Dale Chihuly was introduced to glass while studying interior design at the University of Washington. After graduating in 1965, Chihuly enrolled in the first glass program in the country, at the University of Wisconsin. He continued studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he later established the glass program and taught for more than a decade.
In 1968, after receiving a Fulbright Fellowship, he went to work at the Venini glass factory in Venice, Italy. There he observed the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works today. In 1971, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington. With this international glass center, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.
His work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including twelve honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.
