Chihuly on Paper

By Louise Irvine

The most recent gift to the WMODA library is a comprehensive set of books featuring Dale Chihuly’s most impressive works on paper. The three volumes were donated to the museum by our stalwart volunteer Julio DiFilippo, known to his friends as “Flipper.” He is a great fan of American Studio Glass and has also gifted books about William Morris. His gifts make a welcome addition to the museum’s collection of reference books which can be accessed for research purposes by appointment.

Chihuly considers his works on paper to be the most direct representation of the energy behind his artistic process. He often draws in his studio when a glass blowing is in progress and values the exchange of creative energy. Since his car accident in 1976, drawings have been an important tool for communicating his ideas to his team and to himself. As he says, “The drawings really help me think about things.” Chihuly also discovered that he could “draw” on his glass cylinders by positioning glass threads on the marver table and picking them up by rolling molten glass across them.

Chihuly works in graphite, charcoal, and acrylic, and the three volumes of Chihuly on Paper are organized by medium. The gorgeous reproductions, with their organic expressiveness, convey the immediacy of Chihuly’s style. Comparing Chihuly’s exciting drawings with works of art in the WMODA collections has been enlightening. WMODA is proud to feature two of Chihuly’s exciting acrylic paintings that he created for Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio Restaurant in San Francisco.