Museums 101: The Laguna Murano Chandelier (Art Diary)

by Ojibwa for Museums

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Sunday, Sep. 15, 2019 Sunday, Sep. 15, 2019 at 8:30:18am PDT

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane, Washington, recently hosted a major exhibit: Luminous: Dale Chihuly and the Studio Glass Movement. The exhibit featured the works of 33 major artists. One of the displays featured the Laguna Murano Chandelier created in 1996 by Dale Chihuly using blown glass. Three glass masters—Dale Chihuly, Lino Tagliapietra, and Pino Signoretto—worked collaboratively on this piece.

According to the display:

“Laguna Murano Chandelier is unique, as it incorporates eight sculptural elements in addition to the explosion of amber tendrils. Pino Signoretto and Lino Tagliapietra hot-formed sea imagery suggestive of the Venetian lagoon: a jellyfish, eel, octopus, as well as a mermaid and the sea god Neptune. The team worked in the Signoretto studio and shipped the elements to Seattle to be incorporated into the chandelier design. The hundreds of tendrils were blown at Chihuly Studio, where he then decided on the final composition.”

With regard to Dale Chihuly, the display states:

“By working with multiple assistants and master glass blowers, he was able to create large scale permanent installations that grace art museums, universities and many other public spaces around the world.”