Experience the power of glass at Dale Chihuly’s glassblowing studio

Last week, I got the chance to step inside the studio of a legendary name in the world of glass. To celebrate the Seattle Art Fair, the Boathouse, Dale Chihuly’s glassblowing studio, opened its doors to show off its space and the decades’ worth of art that Chihuly and his team have created.

Once inside, we got to see the incredible glasswork and other pieces of art collected in specific rooms designed by Chihuly. I didn’t really think about glassblowing much until seeing the show “Blown Away” on Netflix. Through that show, you are shown firsthand just how difficult, demanding, and rewarding the world of glass blowing can be, and how hours of work can be shattered with one wrong move or one bad break.

During the hottest day of the summer, glassblowers were hard at work showing off their skills for those who gathered in the hot shop. That’s when I got to talk to Mimi Carter, Chihuly Studio’s vice president of marketing and sales.

Looking at Dale Chihuly’s glassblowing journey

“Dale [Chihuly] grew up in Tacoma and then went to school at University of Washington, but he also went to school at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD),” Carter explained. “He taught at RISD for 11 years, as well as in Maine, but when he came back, he wanted to essentially create an opportunity here in Seattle.”

And create opportunities he has. Through his work and the work of his team, Chihuly has become a common name in the world of art, especially here in Washington.

“He co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School after he had taught in New England because he really felt that we needed something like that here,” Carter shared. “It’s now become an international art center there in Stanwood, Washington. You can now see his art at the Museum of Glass, Union Station, and the Tacoma Museum of Art. You can obviously see it at Chihuly Garden and Glass. It’s not only been a contemporary art form that really began here, but it’s just continued to increase, I think, because of his mentorship and influence.”

Through his mentorship and creative vision, he has helped glassblowing thrive here by creating and using resources for artists.

“Dale was fortunate enough to have a Fulbright Fellowship, and with that fellowship, he wrote 100 letters to 100 different factories around the world, and the only one that said yes was the Venini factory, but that gave him the opportunity to go study with these masters in Murano, Italy,” Carter said. “It’s those types of experiences that are transformative, that artists really need in order to propel their career forward.”

Local glassblowing programs

I think, by having schools, by having programs, and it can start with Hilltop Artists, that’s local here, and it starts with 12-year-olds, and we’ve been working with them for now 30 years. It can start at Path with Art. It can be at the Artist Trust. All those organizations are organizations that Dale and Leslie fund through their foundation, actually, but they see a value to that, and they see that that type of influence, that type of investment, is what continues to snowball the interest and influence in glass blowing today,” she continued.

It’s amazing to see the transformation of the glass from tubes or shards into priceless pieces of art. What starts as something so simple and fragile can be manipulated into large-scale sculptures guaranteed to catch your eye. Each piece of a Chihuly sculpture is handcrafted and engineered specifically to match Dale’s creative vision.

Carter had a simple explanation as to why Chihuly and other glassworks stand out.

“It inspires joy, and joy is the oxygen for doing hard things,” she said. “It doesn’t take a master’s degree in art history. It doesn’t take a background. If you simply see the artwork and its color and its translucence, it’s awe-inspiring. And I think you feel that physically when you see the artwork.”

Maybe you are an artist looking to get into the world of glass or take your work to the next level. Carter said the community is here to help.

“I think there are programs around the Pacific Northwest. Some are community-based, some are school-based. Some are opportunities that are pay-to-play,” she explained. “I think researching what you need at this juncture, whether it’s university or community-based, is the first step, and then really talking to people, because I don’t know that it’s going to happen just by researching on the Internet or AI even.

“It’s a community that does help each other and mentor each other,” Carter continued. “You look at Donna Davies at Pilchuck Glass School, or Debbie Lenk at Museum of Glass, those are leaders in the community who always want to help other young artists learn more about exploring new ideas. The community is really invested in Seattle, invested in the artists in Seattle. And we want to see it grow and flourish the way Dale started to do this, in the early 70s. He wants it to continue.”

Where to see Chihuly’s work

And if this is somehow your first time hearing about Chihuly?

“Here locally, you can obviously see a lot of work at Chihuly Garden and Glass here in Seattle, but also in Maker’s Mark Distillery in Loretto, Kentucky,” Carter shared. “We’ll have an exhibition opening in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. We also have a piece in Montreal that’s being reconfigured that’s going to be beautiful at that museum. Get in touch with us. I’m happy to talk to anybody about where they can see Chihuly.”

You can find more information on Chihuly’s website.

Read more of Paul Holden’s stories here.