Dale Chihuly Carnival Boat 2002 4 x 15 x 5 ft Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Coral Gables Florida installed 2006
the surrounding forest and going to the glass factory factory where he could let his imagination run free The lead glassblowers called gaffers and the crew labored to keep up with Dale’s energy He liked the results of working fast pushing a piece of glass to the limit When Dale stood next to a gaffer blow ing a hot piece of glass he would encourage him to stretch the piece longer to make a bigger bulb on the end He was right there working with us telling us what he wanted to do the gaffer recalled It was an exciting time The world calls him Magician Artist Marvel Phenomenon Entrepreneur Showman Living Legend His teams call him Maestro 3 Chihuly and hotshop team Nuutajärvi Glass Nuutajärvi Finland 1995 The glistening objects named Belugas by his team spun in the current catching and reflecting the morning sunshine Makes this river come to life Dale said He threw in more and more glass until the river was full of bobbing blue and red Belugas Dale had thrown so many off the bridge that he drafted a group of teenagers from the nearby town to help collect the Belugas and pile them into row boats They looked so stunning Dale said This was a new idea for me It’s one he still uses today The summer days were long in Finland Dale moved back and forth between hanging artworks in
CHAPTER 1 CHILDHOOD DAYS Since I was a little boy I always loved glass Dale Chihuly D ale Chihuly was born in 1941 in Tacoma Washington Things were very different in the 1940s and 1950s There were no computers no cell phones and no video games Televisions were in black and white with few stations and small screens But some things were the same Kids rode their bikes around the neighborhood and played games LEFT Clockwise from back left Viola Chihuly George S Chihuly George W Chihuly and Dale Chihuly Tacoma Washington c 1946 RIGHT Viola Chihuly and Dale Chihuly Tacoma Washington c 1983 4
W W Seymour Botanical Conservatory Tacoma Washington 2008 at home with their families When Dale was little his mother Viola said he sat on the floor for hours drawing happily with crayons She never suspected that he would grow up to be a famous artist One of Dale’s favorite outings was going with his mother to the W W Seymour Botanical Conservatory a glasshouse in Tacoma The two liked to roam through the rooms of exotic plants and lush displays of flowers Although their house was modest in size Dale’s mother surrounded it with a blossoming garden filled with hydrangeas rhododendrons and tulips At dusk on most evenings she would ring a bell the signal for her young sons Dale and his older brother George to come home Dale six years younger looked up to his popular athletic brother George often let Dale tag along with him Together with their mom the boys would climb the hill near their house to watch the sunset paint the sky pink yellow and orange Years later when Dale achieved fame for his vibrant glass artwork he talked about his mother’s love of color and how it influenced him I like to say I’ve never met a color I didn’t like On weekends the family would go to the beach on Puget Sound Dale searched for sea glass worn 5
