The Groninger Museum exhibition will present bodies of work created throughout Chihuly’s five-decade career in both indoor and outdoor settings. Highlights of the multi-media exhibition include the artist’s most recent works, Rotolo and Glass on Glass, along with his innovative Baskets, dramatic installations of Neon, Fiori and Icicles, and demonstrations of creative communication-style. The exhibition marks the artist’s largest exhibition in a European museum in the last 20 years.

Chihuly: In the Gallery and In The Forest is a multi-media exhibition highlighting fourteen bodies of work comprised of more than 300 individual pieces created throughout Chihuly’s five-decade career. The first exhibition to showcase Chihuly’s work in both indoor and outdoor settings, Chihuly: In the Gallery and In The Forest also features the first public viewing of his early weaving with fused glass, as well as the first presentation in a museum setting of both the Rotolo series and Glass on Glass works.

An immersive and visual experience, this exhibition was the first major Chihuly show to be presented in Canada. Chihuly designed nine installations, which were installed in more than 11,000 square feet of exhibition space including The Sun and Ruby Pineapple Chandelier. The museum purchased Ruby Pineapple Chandelier for its permanent collection and the Montreal community raised funds to keep The Sun.

The presentation at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was Chihuly’s third major U.S. museum exhibition in recent years. The James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing provided a dramatic setting for the large scale installations and sculptures. The Red Reeds, installed in the Anne Cobb Gottwald reflecting pool, remain part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass was Chihuly’s first major exhibition in Boston and featured twelve site-specific installations. Lime Green Icicle Tower, which graced the Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard, designed by Foster + Partners, was purchased by the museum and remains a focal point of the Museum’s soaring glass-enclosed atrium.

Chihuly at the de Young was an exploration of groundbreaking artwork. From the Mille Fiori, a 56-foot garden of glass, to the Saffron Tower, a 30-foot neon sculpture, this exhibition challenged convention with a feast of bold color, dramatic forms and extraordinary composition. It was the first major exhibition in San Francisco and included eleven galleries of new and archival works.

Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem

Jerusalem, Israel
August 1999–November 2000

More than one million visitors saw Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000.

“The Jerusalem project started with lunch at my kitchen table with Izzika and Yaffa Gaon. They had visited Venice when I hung Chandeliers over the canals, and we all thought an installation project would be great for Israel. We discussed locations and the Citadel Tower of David Museum presented itself as an extraordinary location for such a project. When Izzika died shortly after, I flew to Jerusalem for his memorial service, and met Shosh Yaniv the museum director, and she gave me a tour of the Citadel. I was overwhelmed with the Citadel and Jerusalem, which I had visited once before in 1962. Shosh and I were determined to find a way to do this project in Izzika's memory.”
–Chihuly

Chihuly Over Venice

Venice, Italy

Chihuly realized his ambitious project Chihuly Over Venice in 1995 and 1996. He traveled with his team of glassblowers to glass factories in Finland, Ireland, Mexico and Italy. Along with local glass masters, Chihuly used this period as an opportunity to experiment and innovate creating a new vocabulary and forms. In September 1996, the Chandeliers from the international project were installed at 15 locations around Venice.

Gardens

Various Locations

Chihuly’s lifelong fascination for glasshouses developed into a series of exhibitions within botanical settings. His Garden Cycle began in 2001 at Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. Chihuly exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, near London, in 2005, and at more than 10 beautiful gardens in the United States.