Chihuly

Dale Chihuly is not a photographer, but I have been fascinated with his artwork since I saw a video about him in one of my high school art classes. I love all the work he does with blown glass. It pretty much blows my mind that someone can create something so intricate and beautiful out of glass. And it's such an intense process; it takes a lot of work to get each piece perfectly blown and shaped. There is a lot of technique involved and a lot of time. I remember in the video, a piece was dropped and they had to start all over again. It seems to be an emotionally charged process as well. Some of my favorite works he has done are the chandelier pieces, like the ones he had installed over the canals in Venice. They are so intricate you could stare at them for hours. I love all the bright colors he uses, and the lighting set-ups on his installments accent the pieces even more. It brings out the textures and shapes of each piece of glass. While looking at his website, I discovered that he does some drawings as well. I think they are done with paint, but he calls them drawings. But I see connections to his glass work in the drawings, they both involve bright colors, a lot of movement and fluidity; they are very expressionistic. "The drawings have a lot to do with releasing energy. Somebody once said that people become artists because they have a certain kind of energy to release, and that rings true to me." - Chihuly