Jundt Art Museum Offers Special Selection of Chihuly Works from Its Collection for 125th Anniversary Celebration

On Display April 5 through July 31

SPOKANE, Wash. – The Jundt Art Museum continues its celebration of the 125th anniversary of Gonzaga University with the exhibit “Chihuly: Tradition and Transformation” This selection of drawings and glass sculpture from artist Dale Chihuly will be on display in the Arcade Gallery from April 5 through July 31.

The Jundt Art Museum will display works from The Collection of Gonzaga University that include sculpture from the artist’s series of macchia, soft cylinders, Persians, seaforms, Indian blankets, cylinders, baskets, floats, and Venetians. Much of Chihuly’s work in the collection has been on permanent display since the public dedication of the Jundt Art Museum and Art Center in 1995, including “The Gonzaga Red Chandelier,” which hangs in the Chancellor’s Room.

A native of Tacoma, Wash., Chihuly earned a bachelor’s degree in interior design from the University of Washington in 1965. He later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison and studied under the noted studio glass pioneer Harvey Littleton. Chihuly received his master of fine arts degree at Madison and from the Rhode Island School of Design. As a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, Chihuly studied the art of glass making in Venice, Italy and became a dedicated student of the centuries-old technique employed by Venetian glassmakers. Chihuly is often credited with bringing about a renaissance of the glass blowers art to the United States. In 1971, he joined Northwest art patrons Anne Gould Hauberg and John Hauberg in founding the Pilchuk Glass School in Stanwood, Wash.

In 1976, Chihuly survived a car crash that left him sightless in one eye and robbed him of his depth perception. Unable to continue with his own glass blowing, Chihuly began working with a team of professional glass artists and technicians to produce his work. The Boathouse, a converted racing skull factory on Seattle’s Lake Union, has served as his studio since 1990. Chihuly has turned his work into a production empire, creating not only hundreds of glass sculptures and their exhibitions through his company, Chihuly Inc., but also producing books, documentaries, and other related products through Portland Press, his publishing company. His work is represented in numerous public and private collections, and his architectural installations decorate the buildings of many prestigious institutions in the United States and abroad.

Continuing in the Jundt Galleries until March 28 is “Tradition and Transformation,” works from The Collection of Gonzaga University by faculty, alumni, students, and Northwest artists. Currently featured is a selection from artwork curated by Gonzaga University Chancellor Father Bernard J. Coughlin, S. J.

The museum’s exhibitions are free and open to the public from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The museum is closed Sundays and University holidays. For more information, please contact Karen Kaiser, interim director at (509) 313-6613 or via email.