Aurora Red Ikebana with Bright Yellow Stems

About the Art

For more than 50 years, Dale Chihuly has explored the potential of glass and tested its limits. In 1976, he lost sight in one eye due to an auto accident, which affected his depth perception. Partly because of this, Chihuly began working with a team of glass blowers, and this expanded further the size and scope of what he could achieve with glass.

Throughout his career, Chihuly has worked in series, creating many objects around the same basic pattern or theme. This glass sculpture is part of Chihuly’s Ikebana series, combining sinuous glass flowers placed in glass vases. For this, he drew inspiration from ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Other series include Cylinders, Baskets and Macchias.

FEATURED IMAGE
Dale Chihuly (American, born 1941), Aurora Red Ikebana with Bright Yellow Stems, 2001, blown glass, 63 x 50 x 17 inches (160 x 127 x 43.2 cm). Museum purchase with funds provided by an anonymous donor, John Berry, Sue and Donald Dugan, Warren and Barbara Fryburg, Anne Greene, Bill and Sandy Gunlock, Steve and Sue Libowsky, Elden and June Lindquist, Steve and Lou Mason, Bill and Judy McCormick, Judy and David Montgomery, NCR Corporation, Bob and Linda Nevin, Carol and Richard Pohl, Jr., Violet Sharpe, Frank and June Shively, Doug and Flora Thomsen, Lee and Betsy Whitney, Judy Wyatt, Bill and Dorothy Yeck, and gift of Mr. and Mrs. T. Hart Fisher in memory of Fredricka Patterson Lewis by exchange, 2001.87