Artist feature: dale chihuly

By Ashley Peng, 2026

Published 1/24/24

Generally speaking, Connecticut’s New Britain Museum of American Art and Mohegan Sun Casino probably don’t seem to have very much in common. Surprisingly, both venues are the home of works of art by Dale Chihuly, multicolored spiraling columns of glass curls and tendrils. Chihuly has helped revolutionize the glass-making process, utilizing asymmetry and irregularity as opposed to the more traditional forms. His work has also combined brilliant variations of colors into eye-catching palettes. 

While in college, Chihuly began his artistic career in weaving before experimenting with adding glass shards to his work. He then transitioned to glassblowing, studying it in America along with in Italy on the famed island of Murano. While he has not physically blown glass since 1979, Chihuly has a unique process having artisans produce the glass work while he observes the process and aids in the creation of his art, playing a role that has been described as a director as opposed to an actor. 

His art is permanently installed in the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle, along with in the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and the Morean Arts Center and over 400 permanent collections. Exhibitions of his work have been shown internationally, notable exhibits being the ones in the Victoria Albert Museum, Kew Gardens, New York Botanical Garden, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Biltmore House, and most recently in the Missouri Botanical Garden. Chihuly himself has said that he wants his audience to feel overwhelmed when they see his work, and  given the sheer volume and beauty of his work, it is of no doubt that his audience would feel this way. For over four decades, Dale Chihuly, his innovation, and his studio has been on the forefront of glass production, bringing the once exclusive artform into the eyes of the public.