There are few contemporary artists whose name is as synonymous with the medium in which he works as Dale Chihuly, who is widely regarded as the most innovative glass artist working today. Active since the 1960s, Chihuly is credited with almost single handedly elevating the postwar American studio glass movement to the international prominence it now enjoys.
During an eight-month exhibition in the Frist Center for the Visual Arts' Upper-Level Galleries, the unsurpassed mastery of the artist and his Seattle glass-studio collaborators will be on view in nine installations drawn from some of Chihuly's most acclaimed series. Chihuly at the Frist will open to the public Sunday, May 9, 2010, and remain on view through Jan. 2, 2011.
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For this exhibition at the Frist Center, Chihuly and his artisan assistants are presenting new works and works drawn from his most important series of the past three decades in an installation designed specifically for the Frist Center's galleries. Among the featured series are Venetians, a brilliantly colored and intricately formed group of works that was inspired in 1988 by a famed Italian glass master; Ikebana, which was informed by the Japanese art of flower arranging; Persians, conjuring the exotic and enchanted lands of the Far East; Macchia, borne of Chihuly's desire to use hundreds of colors in rippling forms based on vases created in the famed Venini glass factory in Venice; and Seaforms, which celebrates the waving and rippling shapes and rhythms of underwater life. In addition, the exhibition will include a spectacular MilleFiori (a thousand flowers) garden and the Sea Blue and Green Tower, a mammoth sculpture that masses colorful, curving forms in a large-scale work that rises nearly ten feet tall and occupies an entire gallery.
Also on exhibition will be a wall of Chihuly's drawings that serve as independent works of art and "blueprints" to communicate and inspire his glassblowers to bring his designs to life and to improvise on the themes he has created.
The acclaimed documentary Chihuly in the Hotshop will be on continuous view in the Upper-Level Galleries throughout the exhibition. Directed by Peter West, the film follows the artist in 2006, as he worked in the Museum of Glass's hotshop in Tacoma, Wash., an amphitheatre designed specifically to allow the public to view artists at work. The film received its premiere at the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Frist Center, Cheekwood and Nashville Symphony Collaborate
In addition to the Frist Center, Dale Chihuly's work also will be seen at the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art and at performances of the Nashville Symphony. In an unprecedented collaboration, the three institutions are joining forces to cross-promote and offer reciprocal discounts to their members and subscribers.
"Not only is it wonderful to have Dale Chihuly's work in Nashville, it is a pleasure to collaborate so closely and well with our sister cultural institutions, Cheekwood and the Nashville Symphony, to create a true, community-wide celebration of the arts in Middle Tennessee," Susan Edwards commented.
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center's Martin ArtQuest Gallery features more than 30 interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions.
Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. Frist Center admission is $10.00 for adults and $7.00 for seniors, military and college students with ID. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings, 5-9 p.m. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3246.
The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sundays, 1-5:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Café opening at noon. Additional information is available by calling (615) 244-3340 or by visiting our Web site at www.fristcenter.org.
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