White Sea Form (5 pieces)
Date1986
Artist
Dale Chihuly
(American glassmaker and sculptor, born 1941)
MediumBlown glass
Dimensionslargest: 25 × 24 5/8 × 5 1/2 in. (63.5 × 62.5 × 14 cm)
next largest: 21 × 22 × 7 1/4 in. (53.3 × 55.9 × 18.4 cm)
middle: 21 1/4 × 21 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (54 × 54.6 × 11.4 cm)
next smallest: 20 1/4 × 19 5/8 × 4 3/4 in. (51.4 × 49.8 × 12.1 cm)
smallest: 10 1/2 × 17 1/4 × 6 1/4 in. (26.7 × 43.8 × 15.9 cm)
next largest: 21 × 22 × 7 1/4 in. (53.3 × 55.9 × 18.4 cm)
middle: 21 1/4 × 21 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (54 × 54.6 × 11.4 cm)
next smallest: 20 1/4 × 19 5/8 × 4 3/4 in. (51.4 × 49.8 × 12.1 cm)
smallest: 10 1/2 × 17 1/4 × 6 1/4 in. (26.7 × 43.8 × 15.9 cm)
Credit LineE. Avery Draper Memorial and Acquisition Fund, 1987
Object number1987-179
On View
Not on viewClassificationsSCULPTURE
Label TextDale Chihuly is internationally recognized as one of the most distinctive and innovative artists working in the medium of blown glass. His work thwarts traditional expectations of the glass medium through its intense color, organic form and expanded scale. According to Chihuly, his art revolves around a simple set of circumstances- fire, molten glass, human breath, spontaneity, centrifugal force and gravity. The Sea Forms came about by chance in 1980, evolving out of an attempt to explore new glass blowing techniques and tools, such as the ribbed mold, to strengthen increasingly expanded glass forms. The mold created undulating patterns in the glass that were reminiscent of the ribbed designs found on seashells. Described by friends as visions from beneath the sea because of their organic shapes and translucency, the Sea Forms became the focus of a new series of work Chihuly continues to explore to today. The subtly applied tracery, webbed delicacy of form and minimal use of the color white enhanced by the organic fluidity of the colored lip wrap or edge of each of five pieces that make up the entire work, make this one of Chihuly's most elegant Statements in glass.
