Glass artist, Dale Chihuly, has shown his work just about everywhere - - from Tacoma, Washington (his home town) to Venice, Italy and Jerusalem, Israel.
Yet he chose Ketchum, Idaho to debut his latest collection, “Black Sea Forms.”
For this we have Dennis Ochi, owner of Ochi Gallery and longtime Chihuly dealer to thank.
Chihuly is known as the king of glass and for winning glass works their place among the fine arts. He uses intense and vibrant colors and often relies on nature and its surroundings for the settings of his pieces, some of which covers entire hotel ceilings while others appear simply as extravagantly oversized bowls.
It wasn’t easy for Chihuly to get his works to Idaho. In fact, when Chihuly first approached Ochi in 1980, the gallery owner (and practicing studio artist) rebuffed him… multiple times. Not until 2000, when New York dealer, Charles Cowles, encouraged Ochi to take a hard look at Chihuly’s work, did Ochi and Chihuly began their thriving artist-dealer relationship.
For Ochi, what makes Chihuly’s work so interesting is the artistic process. Much like the architect Frank Gehry, Chihuly comes up with a design and then guides glass craftsmen through its creation. Ochi sees Chihuly as a “composer of a symphony,” painstakingly directing as many as 30 craftsmen as they translate his vision into reality. From a page of two black circles, a splash of orange paint, and the words “two baskets,” for example, emerge two beautiful black and orange glass constructions.
To see more of Chihuly’s work, head to Ochi Gallery in the Light Industrial area in Ketchum or call 208-726-8746 to make an appointment.
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