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Dale Chihuly : Renowned Glass Artist

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Dale Chihuly is internationally renowned glass artist. He was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941. While studying interior design at the University of Washington, he was introduced to glass. After graduation in 1965, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin into the first glass program in the country, and went on to complete a graduate degree in sculpture. Later, he received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1968, then went to work in Venice at the Venini glass factory. There he learned the team approach to glass blowing, which is the way he still works today. Continuing his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, he eventually received a degree in ceramics, and established a glass program there that he taught for more than a decade. In the early seventies, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. Here he led the field in the development of glass as a fine art. When he lost the sight in his left eye due to an automobile accident in 1976, he eventually decided to delegate most of the actual glassblowing on his projects to others, and drawing then became an important tool for communicating his ideas to his team. He has been the recipient of many rewards, including two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Art, and his works are included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide.
One of his earliest works, Pink and Opal Seafoam Set, 1981, 15 x 24 x 22”, is a tribute to Chihuly’s glass blowing expertise and the influence of famed Murano glass

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