Dale Chihuly’s glass installations add even more shine and colour to botanic gardens
The glass artist’s exhibition includes Glacier Ice and Lapis Chandelier, one of two new artworks created specifically for the South Australian display.
When Dale Chihuly and his team were asked if they would consider Adelaide Botanic Gardens as the next destination for their large-scale hand-blown glass installations, they knew it was the perfect place.
Although the decorated glass contemporary artist renowned for his large-scale coloured glass sculptures has developed exhibitions within botanic gardens before, such as his Garden Cycle exhibited at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London, in 2005 and 2019 and Gardens by the Bay in Singapore in 2021, this exhibition presented an opportunity to do something unique to the landscape of Adelaide.
The result is Chihuly in the Botanic Garden, which comes to life day and night over three seasons until April 29, 2025, in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.
As Chihuly’s director of special exhibitions, Britt Cornett, told The Australian, there was something special about bringing his work to Adelaide.
“We fell in love with the garden,” Cornett says. “I’ve been with the studio for 19 years and worked with different gardens in different locations, and there’s something just really special about Adelaide: the light and the beautiful trees and things that we just have not encountered before.”
The exhibition, which opened on September 27, includes two new artworks created specifically for the South Australian display, among a collection of 15 large-scale hand-blown glass art installations that have been featured in Chihuly’s Garden Cycle exhibitions.
The first, Glacier Ice and Lapis Chandelier, was created specifically for the iconic structure of Palm House Conservatory and reflects the artist’s enduring love of glass houses that dates from when he was a small boy. The Chandelier’s multiple hand-blown glass forms were inspired by the cobalt panels that adorn the top of the structure and are mounted on a hanging steel armature, showcasing Chihuly’s knack for playing with light, form and colour.
He also created Jet and Crimson Fiori as an Adelaide exclusive. Inspired by the Sturt’s desert pea, South Australia’s state flower, Chihuly experimented with its distinct colours of red and black, and its unique form. It sits inside the Bicentennial Conservatory as part of the more intimate In Full Colour: Dale Chihuly exhibition, which includes panels of text and audio offering insights into his life.
While Chihuly is known to love a challenge as an artist, sending the incredibly delicate pieces across the world is always a daunting task, admits Cornett. “It’s been a year in the making, which is actually a relatively compressed timeline. We had even less time to get the work all the way out here to Adelaide. We needed to ship all the work from our studio in Seattle.”
But for Chihuly and his team, the joy of seeing the works come to life in unique landscapes across the world never loses its charm.
“It’s such a joy to see something go from a two-dimensional idea on paper to a living exhibition and to see all the hard work from so many people come to life, “ Cornett says. “It’s come together beautifully. We hope people really love it.”
Chihuly in the Botanic Garden is on display at the Adelaide Botanic Garden until April 29, 2025.
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