In sign of renewed relationship, Dale Chihuly to host Museum of Glass hot shop event

Dale Chihuly.

The Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington will welcome back Dale Chihuly, world-renown glass artist. After Chihuly Garden and Glass in downtown Seattle opened this past May, Chihuly seems to be reasserting his role as a supporter and friend of the museum in his hometown. Chihuly will preside over a full-day seminar on Sunday, September 23rd, 2012, working alongside his hand-picked team of Joey Kirkpatrick, Flora C. Mace, James Mongrain and Joey DeCamp to create work in Chihuly’s “Soft Cylinders” series. The event will be one of the museum’s in-depth “Hot Shops” presentations, which are billed as“three-dimensional exhibits” in which visitors have the opportunity to witness every detail of the glass blowing process by the masters of the craft. Chihuly was also the first visiting artist to work in the hot shop after the museum opened in 2002.

Flora Mace, Joey Patrick, and Dale Chihuly at work in the hot shop.

Timed tickets (like sets in music) will allow visitors to view for 50-minutes stretches between extended hours of 11 AM to 6 PM. Tickets will cost $17, or $5 for museum members. “Because of Dale, the Pacific Northwest has become a major glass center,” explains Museum of Glass executive director Susan Warner. “We are so pleased to have him back at MOG to help us celebrate our 10^th anniversary.”

Those unable to attend the workshops will still be able to catch them streaming live on the Museum’s website.

—Madeleine Harrington