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The Evelyn Room

The Evelyn Room

The Evelyn Room is named after the “Evelyn” sign featured on the far west wall, which is believed to have once hung on the side of a boat or ship. The sign was originally purchased by Chihuly at a thrift store in Tacoma. 

Dale Chihuly, Chandeliers
The Evelyn Room, The Boathouse, Seattle, 2019

The focal point of the room is the eighty-five-foot Douglas Fir table, weighing approximately 5,000 lbs. and installed in 1995. Sourced locally from a fallen tree, the table was cut at a mill in Port Orchard, Washington. The table is surrounded by dozens of vintage Eames Molded Plywood Dining Chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1946. Hanging above are eight Chandeliers, created in 2012, twenty years after Chihuly’s first Chandelier debuted at the Seattle Art Museum in 1992.

Racing shell, c. 1990

Prior to Chihuly’s purchase of The Boathouse in 1989, the building was owned by George Pocock and used as a factory for wood racing shells from the 1960s to 1980s. Suspended above the windows in The Evelyn Room is an eight-person Pocock racing shell from 1934.

Papier Mâché Masks

Sitting on a shelf stretching the length of The Evelyn Room is a collection of papier mâché masks Chihuly acquired at an antique shop in Tacoma. The origins of the masks are unconfirmed, but we speculate they were made for traveling circuses or theater performances.

 

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