There are scads of well-known artists and other famous people all over the world. They seem to be everywhere, although I bet most of them gravitate to larger cities. But before they were famous, every one of them had to have come from somewhere, right? Do you know the name Dale Chihuly? He’s a glass-blower and glass artist. He is world famous. And … he’s from Tacoma, WA!
Yep, he’s from this very town that I live in. Not surprisingly, there are a number of permanent displays of his glass art right here in Tacoma, most of it free for the viewing. This town is chock-a-block full of Chihuly glass. Here’s a short list of some of the locations in Tacoma where his glass is displayed:
- The Frank Russell Company, a private investment firm soon moving to Seattle
- Union Station
- Pacific Lutheran University, Glass Roses
- University of Puget Sound
- Tacoma Art Museum
- Washington State History Museum
- The Tacoma Museum of Glass
- The Bridge of Glass
We sure have our share of Chihuly glass, don’t we? I’ve been to most of those displays, but not all of them yet. On one recent, fine, sunshiny, winter day, I was in downtown Tacoma anyway, so I took a stroll over “The Bridge of Glass” and snapped a few photos. I’ve also borrowed a few photos off the internet and posted them here as well.
The view as you approach the Bridge of Glass is not particularly exciting. It’s a pedestrian bridge. It crosses over a busy freeway and a bunch of often-used train tracks.
The big blue balloons are rather nice. Actually, the big blue “balloons” are Chihuly glass. Look at the size of them!
The building on the left in the photo above is the first one we’ll walk through … then we’ll walk further along the bridge and take a look at the single, tall panel that’s on the right side of the bridge, the one just a few feet past the big blue “balloon” tower on the right.
When you first walk into the black box of a building on the left in the photo above, here’s what you see (below) when you look UP!
The entire ceiling is FULL of individual glass art pieces, some of them tiny, some of them huge. The ceiling is actually a very sturdily built clear glass “shelf” that contains all manner and sizes and colors of Chihuly glass. The entire display must weigh a few tons.
It can be mesmerizing. And when the sunshine is strong and bright and it shines directly through the glass from straight overhead, you are bathed in the colors of the glass … it looks and feels as though you are inside a kaleidoscope. When I was here this day, the winter sun wasn’t high enough in the sky to create that effect, but wait until summer comes!
Then I walked on across the bridge a bit further to that single, tall panel on the right. Again, it’s fairly boring when looked at from the outside.
But from the inside, it’s an entirely different experience.
It’s a wall full of individual Chihuly glass pieces. An amazing variety! And again, some of them are large, some are several feet tall.
Each piece is fascinating in its own right … together, they are extraordinary.
As evening descends, the display lights come on and the magic changes.
The Bridge of Glass is a great place to spend some time on a nice day or evening just looking and dreaming of a different world, just letting your imagination wander.
Downtown Tacoma and the city’s Tacoma Art Museum are near one end of the Bridge of Glass. The Washington State History Museum is very close by. At the other end of the Bridge are the Museum of Glass and, not mentioned above, a live glass-blowing facility or “hot shop” where the public can watch live glass-blowing.
Since I moved to Tacoma, I’m finding it is full of wonderful things like these gorgeous glass displays and the Pacific Bonsai Museum and so many other terrific things to see and do. When the weather gets warmer later this spring, I’ll be off again on camping trips in the trailer. Until then, it appears I’ll be busy exploring this city and its surrounding areas and telling you all about them. 🙂
That’s impressive. Kind of weird stuff to my taste, but very impressive at the same time. We sure do not have anything like this in our small town in Montana. Thank you Ann.
You are welcome Tim. Not everything in this particular display is to my taste either but like you say, it is impressive. Large displays like this one are so amazing.
Wow! We have a Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, FL.
His work is AMAZING!
Thank you Leah. For readers interested in the St. Pete Florida collection, here’s a link to it … https://www.visitstpeteclearwater.com/profile/chihuly-collection/427.
That glass is beautiful.
Oh, I wish you could come to Tacoma and stand under that ceiling on a sunny day. But yes, even without the sun shining through it, it is beautiful.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had never heard of the artist.
You are very welcome. It’s fun for me to share new things and interesting things. You can “google” Chihuly’s name and find out lots more about him. Or do a google search of “chihuly glass” and then click on “images” near the top of the screen … and then scroll down through hundreds and hundreds of photographs of Chihuly glass. There are displays of his glass art all over the world.
My goodness, Dale has works on display around the world… (thanks Ann and Wikipedia)
Imagine how his mind works, it seems like he never stops creating.
And to think he comes from Tacoma. Colour is enthralling.
Oh yes, the way he puts colours and shapes together is so intriguing. I understand he is no longer blowing glass, but is still involved in designing and guiding others in creating his designs.
Lucky you to be surrounded by Chihuly art! We have a few permanent installations around here (Kentucky) but the most memorable was a traveling exhibit of his work set up around the grounds of the Makers Mark distillery a year or so ago (one of the rickhouses also has a permanent back-lit ceiling such as you described). We saw the exhibit at night; stunning does not describe it. Tacoma has just made our bucket list!
A good friend of mine drinks Maker’s Mark almost exclusively, well except for water and coffee and other such beverages. 🙂
Isn’t that back-lighting something? Just amazing. Yes, come see Tacoma’s Chihuly glass.
Much of Chihuly’s glass is huge! It is hard to capture the feeling of actually walking through that bridge of glass with a picture. It’s a bit like being in a giant aquarium surrounded by colorful tropical fish. Or the feeling of standing under one of his giant chandeliers, such as the one at the Seattle Opera House. Or standing beside it on any of the tiers. The sheer size of the sculptures is impressive.
Oh yes! Huge is right and I didn’t emphasize that did I? When you are walking beside that wall of glass, you can look straight sideways (or directly in front of you) to look at the lowest row of glass, but you’ll be looking UP even at the second row. Those pieces are huge, just like Arlene says, and other Chihuly works are even larger. Yes, the photos don’t show it. The two towers with the “blue balloons” are 40 feet tall! … as tall as a four-story building. Chihuly’s glass art/displays are usually huge and extremely heavy. Thanks Arlene. 🙂