Artists are often distinguished by an ability to see what the rest of us cannot. In the fantastic works of glass created by Dale Chihuly, one can imagine that he has the ability to see light everywhere he looks – bouncing, darting, twirling, radiantly colorful light – and that he has figured out a way to capture that light and make it permanent, so the rest of us can see it, too.

Chihuly draws inspiration from many aspects of life. Out of his love of walks along the beach grew his Seaforms. His fascination with slumped, sagging Indian baskets led to the Baskets series. The word “Persian” conjured a vision of exotic markets and led to the Persian series. He woke one morning with a sense of wanting to use all 300 colors of glass in his shop, which led to his Macchia series. His admiration for the skill and craftsmanship in American Indian trade blankets led to his Blanket Cylinders series.

The Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis will showcase the results of this inspiration in two exhibitions in February 2003. The diverse exhibits will share one idea at their core: Chihuly as a daringly original and inventive artist.

The exhibitions, which run Feb. 15 through May 11, 2003, are:
• Wrapped in Tradition: The Chihuly Collection of American Indian Trade Blankets,
• Fire Work: The Art of Dale Chihuly and
• Indiana Collects the West: Chihuly.

“Wherever Dale Chihuly’s art is presented, the public responds overwhelmingly,” said John Vanausdall, president and CEO, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. “With these stunning exhibits, we expect to bring tens of thousands of people to downtown Indianapolis. We’re honored to have such an opportunity.”

Chihuly began working with glass in the early 1960s in a weaving class, when his teacher assigned the problem of weaving on a loom with a non-fiber material. Chihuly chose glass, and from that moment on, he was hooked. He blew his first glass bubble in 1965. Now, he is recognized as the world’s foremost living artist in glass and someone who has changed the face of the contemporary art world.

At the same time he was discovering glass, Chihuly began collecting Navajo trade blankets made by Pendleton and other woolen mills. Non-Native collectors like Chihuly were drawn to the history behind these blankets and their design elements.

“What’s truly fascinating to me and other collectors is how incredibly beautiful, aesthetically successful and varied the designs and colors of these blankets are,” Chihuly said.

Wrapped in Tradition: The Chihuly Collection of American Indian Trade Blankets displays 80 of his trade blankets (out of a collection of 700 different designs) alongside 15 of the Blanket Cylinders series Chihuly created, inspired by the trade blankets.

Chihuly came up with a way to pull colored glass rods into long, thin threads in 1974. The Navajo Blanket Cylinder series was the outgrowth of this technique.

“[The technique] allowed us to make drawings out of glass that we could then pick up on the outside of a gather of glass,” he said. “We knew right away that drawing on glass was a breakthrough idea.”

Chihuly is better known for his free-flowing, bold glass forms, such as the Seaform series, and installations such as “Chihuly In the Light of Jerusalem 2000” and “100,000 Pounds of Ice and Neon.” At the Eiteljorg Museum, Fire Work: The Art of Dale Chihuly will showcase Persians from the Chihuly studio. Each Persian consists of more than one piece of glass: a large form that curves slightly upward to hold small funnel, flat or cylindrical pieces of glass.

“The distinguishing characteristics of a Chihuly Persian are, of course, the dramatic light and unique form,” said Jennifer Complo McNutt, the Eiteljorg’s curator of contemporary art.

With Indiana Collects the West: Chihuly, the Eiteljorg will showcase Chihuly works from private collections in Indiana held by Marilyn and Gene Glick of Indianapolis, Andy and Jane Paine of Indianapolis, and from Columbus, Ind., Jim and Mary Henderson and Cummins Engine Inc. Indiana Collects the West is a periodic series designed to show the collections of Eiteljorg Museum patrons whose art and objects reflect the museum’s mission.

“It’s an opportunity for the Eiteljorg Museum to unveil to our visitors the wealth of private holdings in Indiana, giving them a rare opportunity to experience art and objects usually available only to a limited audience,” McNutt said.

Chihuly at the Eiteljorg Museum is presented by Bank One Indiana, N.A., with additional support from American Funds Group, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Delta Faucet Co., Indianapolis Power & Light Co. and Meijer.

[sidebar about trade blankets]
Trade blankets show how traditions not only survive change, but prosper in it

Long before Europeans arrived in North America with items for trade with Native Americans, the tribes traded with each other, swapping their blankets and other sought-after materials for goods they could not obtain in their own parts of the country.

Thus, when Europeans brought commercially produced blankets to trade with the tribes for furs, the transaction was a natural one.

Cultures can’t interact without influencing each other, and trade was no exception. On the one hand, Native Americans adapted Euro-American materials and designs into their arts. On the other, American blanket manufacturers adapted Native designs and then sold their blankets to an eager Native market.

That cross-cultural influence continues even today, as evidenced by the work of artist Dale Chihuly. Since the early 1960s, Chihuly has collected trade blankets created by Pendleton and other woolen mills, fascinated by bright colors and arresting designs.

“What’s truly fascinating to me and other collectors is how incredibly beautiful, aesthetically successful and varied the designs and colors of these blankets are,” he said.

The blankets in Chihuly’s collection date from the late 1880s to the 1930s. They are featured in Wrapped in Tradition: The Chihuly Collection of American Indian Trade Blankets, at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis from Feb. 15 to May 11, 2003.

The first blankets traded to Native Americans came from Europe. After the American Revolution, only a few manufacturers in the U.S. wool industry designed their products for trade with Indians. As this market began to grow, the five major woolen manufacturers – J. Capps and Sons, Oregon City Woolen Mills, Buell Manufacturing Co., Racine Woolen Mills and Pendleton Woolen Mills – began marketing to Indian reservations and trading-post operations and took advantage of new technology, such as the Jacquard loom. This double-shuttle loom vastly expanded the manufacturers’ ability to create intricate designs and to produce a double-weave blanket – one design on one side, with the colors reversed on the other.

Ironically, it was a lack of understanding that allowed the mills to create more intricate designs than the Native blankets that inspired them. Native-made blankets were made to be worn; how the designs met and overlapped when wrapped around a human being had great significance. Commercial mills didn’t have this restriction, so their designers had a much freer hand. In another example of influence, Native weavers, after seeing the double-sided commercial blankets, produced double-sided weavings on their own traditional vertical looms.

Today, Pendleton is the only one of the original manufacturers still in existence. Collecting trade blankets has become a passion for many people, including Dale Chihuly, and a lucrative business for others; original trade blankets can sell for upwards of $6,000. Trade blankets are still seen at Native American pow wows and sacred ceremonies, and they are awarded to individuals as symbols of friendship and acceptance and are given as gifts during important rites of passage.

Twenty-six years ago, Dale Chihuly attended an exhibition of Navajo trade blankets and was captivated. Today, the world is enriched by Chihuly’s Blanket Cylinders series, inspired by their design.

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