Chihuly Floats at TAM!

 

Installation of Chihuly Niijima Floats at Tacoma Art Museum

January 4, 10 am – 5 pm (Rain date: January 5)

 

Several Dale Chihuly Niijima floats will be temporarily installed on the wavelike stone sculpture that graces the center of Tacoma Art Museum.  A team of installers from the museum and Chihuly Studio will position the glass orbs of varying sizes and colors over the Chinese stone pavers that make up the sculpture. Some two dozen Niijima floats will be placed on the metaphorical stone wave. Viewing of the installation process will be open to the public.   

No closing date has yet been set for this temporary installation.

 

“It is interesting that the most difficult series I have ever blown are the floats, considering the sphere is the easiest form to make in glass,” said Chihuly. “It’s the most natural you could blow. But it’s not natural at this scale.”

Chihuly was inspired to create the Niijima floats after visiting friends in Niijima, an island in Tokyo Bay. These floats are reminiscent of traditional Japanese fishing floats and are among the largest free-blown forms ever created. He began the series in 1991, experimenting by using glass made from Niijima’s beach sand. The floats were installed along the island’s coast, many of which were sent out to sea. To this day, millions of traditional fishing floats still drift in the Pacific trade currents. It’s good luck to find one on the beach. Visit www.chihuly.com for more information.

The open-air stone sculpture, Untitled, brings the symbolism of water to the museum’s core. As a port-city, water is critical to Tacoma. The silent wave and textured stone dissolve into the sky via the reflective glass and steel above, like the ocean along the horizon.

 

http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/page.asp?view=4540

 

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Assistant Museum Educator and Docent Coordinator

hllamazares@TacomaArtMuseum.org

 

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3018

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

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