Dale Chihuly

American, 1941-Present

Dale Chihuly is a highly influential American glass artist. His often large-scale projects have earned him widespread recognition and helped spark a revival of the use of glass sculpture in the fine-art world.  

Chihuly first experimented with the use of glass in his class on weaving at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1963. Intrigued by the medium, he enrolled in a glassblowing course at the University of Madison-Wisconsin in 1965, the first glassblowing program offered in the United States. He sought further education from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he obtained an M.F.A. in 1968. The following year, upon returning from working at the famed glassblowing workshop Venini Fabrica in Murano, Italy, Chihuly founded the glassblowing program at RISD, acting as the instructor until 1980. 

After losing sight in one eye in 1976, Chihuly became incapable of glassblowing himself, and had to rely on other artists to help realize his artistic visions. Despite this setback, he persisted in his career, developing a unique and well-recognized style. He often incorporated functional aspects into his pieces, creating works such as chandeliers, garden installations, and the stage set for the opera Bluebeard’s Castle by Béla Bartók. While Chihuly currently resides in Seattle, Washington, his pieces are dispersed across the US and abroad, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.