Glass Encounters

As previewed in the previous post, S and I went to the Dale Chihuly exhibition at the de Young museum, San Francisco. As many of you will already know, glass is definitely her thing - much more so than mine - but I was anyway happy to tag along to see what there was to see.

First things first: this is more a study in modern art expressed through glass than it is a simple collection of art objects that happen to be made out of glass. There is a wealth of form and colour in many of the individual pieces shown, let alone the larger arrangement of multiple separate items featured along the eight or so galleries spanned by the exhibition. For example, one room alone, comprising a collection of long slender glass cylinders fixed into logs, is more reminiscent of an installation work at the Tate Modern than it is a commercial glass exhibit.

In addition to his well know series of chandelier-like forms featured in various public spaces, an example of which is shown above, we find everything from the single item vase or jug right up to a complete tableaux stretching the entire length of one gallery. But it's not all glass. We also find a collection of baskets mixed in along with some woven items, providing a strong contrast to the angular nature of aspects of his glass work whilst also pulling us back towards the more organic forms used, again such as those shown above.

More to come in the next few posts ....