Oklahoma City.- The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is proud to reopen its collection of glass by American artist Dale Chihuly on New Year’s Eve. Exhibited on the third floor, "ILLUMINATIONS: Rediscovering the Art of Dale Chihuly" presents a fresh look at the Museum’s popular Chihuly collection. This beautiful exhibit is easily accessible to any art collector of ArtKabinett network.
Redesigned in collaboration with Chihuly Studio, the newly installed galleries will incorporate a unique design that features a three-dimensional approach to viewing some objects in the collection.
The presentation will allow visitors to explore the large Float Boat and Ikebana Boat installations from all sides as well as includes viewing slots for the Reeds. "ILLUMINATIONS" will be accompanied by a special exhibition on the third floor titled "Chihuly: Northwest".
On view through April 8, 2012, this exhibition will include glass sculptures by Chihuly inspired by Native American baskets; Chihuly’s personal collection of textiles as well as photographs by Edward S. Curtis from The North American Indian Portfolio; and recent examples of Chihuly’s White series.
In 2002, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art inaugurated its new home in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center with an exhibition of glass and drawings by Dale Chihuly. Bolstered by enormous public support, the Museum purchased the exhibition, which included works from Chihuly’s best-known series and was anchored by the 55-foot Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower in the Museum’s atrium."Illuminations: Rediscovering the Art of Dale Chihuly Collection" and "Chihuly: Northwest" celebrate the Museum’s 10th anniversary in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center.
Both exhibitions will open on New Year’s Eve, in conjunction with the Arts Council of Oklahoma City’s Opening Night. Dale Chihuly’s well-grounded academic and practical background includes a B.A. in interior design from the University of Washington, a M.S. in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.F.A. in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and honorary doctorates from the University of Puget Sound and the Rhode Island School of Design.
He also was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for work in glass and studied at Italy’s prestigious Venini glass factory on a Fulbright Fellowship.
Chihuly’s work is included in over 200 museum collections, including the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and he has received world renown for his extensive glass series, international projects, and large architectural installations such as the Museum’s Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower.
The Museum’s collection represents over three decades of Chihuly’s finest work and heralds this brilliant luminist as the most important artist working in glass since Louis Comfort Tiffany.
