There’s another place in Las Vegas to see Chihuly Glass besides the famed ceiling installation at the Bellagio Hotel. A dedicated gallery space at the newer ARIA Hotel, on Gallery Row, features his work exclusively. Chandeliers, paintings, wall mounted installations, there’s pieces from all of his famous genres.
As child growing up in the Pacific Northwest, words like Chihuly and Pilchuck School of Glass, are just part of the local vernacular. You learn at a very young age who he is and what he’s all about, and it’s a great source of local pride. I remember how thrilled I was to take my five year old niece to an exhibition of his work at the Seattle Art Museum in 1990, their first one man exhibition in the newly opened museum. For an adult it was awe inspiring, so I can only image how a five year old must have viewed the massive installation of wall mounted works, and multiply tall pedestals topped with individual blown glass pieces. It was like being in a field of flowers, ala Alice in Wonderland.
It’s been even more remarkable to watch the trajectory of Dale Chihuly’s career with installations such as his 1995 ‘Chihuly over Venice’, or the 1999 ‘Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem’, and the 2005 ‘Chihuly at Kew’ (Kew Gardens London). By taking his works out of traditional home and gallery spaces, and installing it in natural environments, he pushes and expands the boundaries of how we experience the reflective and transparent nature of glass. These environments can’t be controlled, which is a sign of confidence in what he’s produced. He’s opening it up to the unexpected and allowing them to simply be.
During my years as a hairdresser in Seattle, I had a client who was going though a divorce. One of the biggest irritations about her divorce was that she was loosing ‘the Chihuly’s’. Her husband had bought them through his business, therefore they were business assets, not community property. During their years together, the pieces appreciated tremendously, and were now cost prohibitive to replace. I remember seeing small works for sale in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Museum Store over a decade ago. Starting price: $3500. And if I remember correctly, the pieces that I saw at the Shops at Wailea in Maui were $30,000 – $40,000. I can only imagine what one of those tremendous chandeliers must cost today. I didn’t have the nerve to ask for pricing at the Vegas Boutique… you know the old adage: If you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. But that shouldn’t stop you from walking into the store and absorbing some of the good mojo emanating from his work. The stores sales associate was more than gracious in allowing us to look around and take photos , and was more than happy to answer any questions we had.
Crystal Place, ARIA Hotel, Las Vegas… the other place Chihuly lives in Las Vegas.