The Essential Dale Chihuly

by William Warmus, William Armus

He turns glass into art, artists into glassmakers, children into artists, and adults into children. Meet Dale Chihuly, the Tiffany of the 21st century, who has pioneered a demanding new art form that blends performance art, sculpture, and environments in the creation of spectacularly colorful worlds.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art and Photography

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #9 for 2019

Alphabet Soup: E
Ampersand: A nonfiction book
Book Bingo: G-2 - A nonfiction book
GenreLand: January - Library Display
The Legendary Book Club of Habitica's Ultimate Reading Challenge: A book with pictures
Linz's Challenge: A book about an artist
The Modern Mrs Darcy: A book about a topic that fascinates you
PopSugar: Your favorite prompt from the 2018 PopSugar reading challenge - A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
Procrastinators: Read a book with a beautiful cover
Ragdoll Reads: A book or author with an alliterative name
While I Was Reading: A memoir or biography of a favorite celebrity

Is Chihuly a "celebrity"? I think so. He may not do the celebrity lifestyle thing, exactly, but even people who aren't art nerds are likely to at least recognize his name. The phrase "favorite celebrity" kinda bugs me, because I know them only superficially and at the same time, I feel like having favorite humans--as opposed, say, to favorite foods or a favorite pair of jeans--is dismissive of their humanity and complexity. So suffice it to say that I perk up when I hear there's a Chihuly exhibit or installation in the vicinity and I enjoy oohing and aaahing over his ripples and curlicues.

I have a book I got in Las Vegas that is a larger format and does greater justice to the artwork, but I learned a lot more in this book. Not just about Chihuly and his path to celebrity, but about glass-working in general and what a team sport it really is at that scale.

Gotta say, though, that the present tense throughout this book never didn't seem weird. And I'm not one of those people who loves to hate on present tense. It was just such a strange stylistic choice for a biography.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, small, easy & a quick read, good (but small) photos. Even as small as it is, there was a lot of information that I did not know.

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have admired Chihuly for a long time. I was able to see an exhibit of his in Arizona at the Botanical Gardens. True to form, he wove and displayed his art within the desert plant-life, and the results were amazing. He grew up in the state of Washington, and has traveled all over the world creating and displaying his art. He makes glass into art. He is called the "Tiffany of the 21st Century". He crafts a combination of art, sculpture, and environment. He has done work with Disney on his ships, and helped create backgrounds for movie sets. He constantly has museum shows, and has his own museum as well. "The aspect of the art that interest me is the audience". (Dale Chihuly) "Chihuly style can be defined as a "total focus on the pursuit of beauty".
The five major conflicts that you will see in his work is 1) conflicts between East and West, 2)forest and sea, 3)masculine and feminine, 4) expressive and decorative, and 5) provincial and cosmopolitan.
"His pieces are absolutely extraordinary artistic creations-ravishing" (Jeremy Adamson, senior curator , Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute) .
Many people have questioned whether Chihuly is a "true artist". For myself, I see him as an artist, and having seen his work, would love to see more of it, and even own it (although it is not in my budget...not even close!)
This book helps make you understand the inner tickings of a man who is so many things to so many people. I highly recommend it.

[Joanne Pascoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series seems to be designed to be an introduction. Small book format, short articles with lots of pictures. Workers with glass has seldom been treated as artists, but rather as crafts people. Chihuly kicked things up at least an order of magnitude. I'd definitely call him an artist. He's a visionary, who has put together teams to implement his projects and display them. Like many painters, his work falls into definite "periods" as he explores various concepts.

[Joanne G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered this after seeing the Chihuly exhibit in Boston over summer vacation. I didn't realize the book was only 6"x6" which is really too small for an art book. The photographs are small and don't do the glass justice. Still, the book gave me information on the artist and the background of his works.

[Kylie]

This is actually a REALLY GOOD book that covers a ton of information on Dale. We didnt publish this- but I highly recommend it. Such an easy read and funny thing is- i learned quite a bit from it!