Dale Chihuly (b. 1941) American, Artists Proof Lithograph with Hand Coloring. Title: "Trio." Inscribed "AP" bottom right in pencil. Number 9 of 21. Thorough documentation signed by Chihuly and dated 7/5/06 in blue pouch on the back, lower left. Small label with cleaning information and handwritten inscription "PT1099PR(9AP)" on back, lower right. 

Overall: 41 X 29 in. 

Sight: 36 1/4 X 24 3/4 in. 

Depth: 2 in. 

#3832 . 

Dale Chihuly was born on September 20th, 1941 in Tacoma, Washington. By the time he graduated high school his only sibling George had died in a Navy training accident, and his father (also George) had died of a heart attack. Experiencing depression and purposelessness from the losses, Chihuly had no interest in continuing his formal education, but deferred to his mother’s urging that he enroll at the College of Puget Sound. A year later he transferred to the University of Washington in Seattle to study interior design. In 1961 he joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and happened to walk into a class on how to melt and fuse glass, which hooked him immediately. In 1962 Chihuly dropped out of the university to travel to Florence, Italy to study art. He later traveled to the Middle East where he met architect Robert Landsman, who encouraged him to return to his studies. In 1963 he took a weaving class in Seattle where he incorporated glass shards into tapestries, earning his first award for the work from the Seattle Weavers Guild the following year. Chihuly graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interior design. He began experimenting with glassblowing right after graduation, and in 1966 he received a full scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He, along with several pivotal figures in the future art glass movement, studied under Harvey Littleton, who had established the first glass program in the United States at the university. In 1967 Chihuly received a Master of Science degree in sculpture. After graduating, he enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he met and became close friends with the Italian born artist Italo Scanga. Chihuly earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the RISD in 1968, and was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for his work in glass as well as a Fulbright Fellowship that same year. He traveled to Venice to work at the Venini factory on the island of Murano, where he first saw the team approach to blowing glass. After returning to the United States, Chihuly spent the first of four consecutive summers teaching at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine. In 1969 he traveled back to Europe, in part to meet Erwin Eisch in Germany and Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová in Czechoslovakia. In 1971, with the support of John Hauberg and Anne Gould Hauberg, Chihuly co-founded the Pilchuck Glass School near Stanwood, Washington. He also established the HillTop Artists program in Tacoma, Washington at Hilltop Heritage Middle School and Wilson High School. In 1976, while Chihuly was traveling in England, he was involved in a head-on car accident that propelled him through the windshield. His face was severely cut by glass and he was blinded in his left eye. After recovering, he continued to blow glass until he dislocated his right shoulder in 1979 while bodysurfing. In 1983, Chihuly returned to his native Pacific Northwest where he continued to develop his own work at the Pilchuck Glass School. No longer able to hold the glassblowing pipe, he hired others to do the work, which had a profound impact on his style and choices. He encouraged others to “step back, and like the view,” as he did, saying it allowed him to see the work from more perspectives and anticipate problems in the process earlier. Chihuly’s later role in glassblowing has been described as “more choreographer than dancer, more supervisor than participant, more director than actor.” With his majestic mane of hair, sporting an eyepatch and often accompanied by an entourage of assistants and supporters, Chihuly helped shape the late 20th Century view of artists as celebrities and entrepreneurs, and when he attempted to sue a former employee named Bryan Rubino in 2006 for copyright infringement the landmark case set precedents for interpretation of a master’s influence on their student’s art style. Several major permanent exhibits, including the Chihuly Gardens in Seattle, are a testament to his living legacy, and Chihuly was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Wisconsin in 2013, after he had donated a significant portion of his work to them in 1997 which is on permanent display in the Kohl Center. Chihuly’s vibrant, large-scale installations and sculptures continue to captivate audiences worldwide in over 200 museums, reflecting his innovative techniques and bold use of color and form that made him a pivotal figure in contemporary art.