A new glass sculpture by internationally known artist Dale Chihuly was installed Monday and Tuesday in the lobby of Abravanel Hall.
The 27-foot-high "Olympic Tower," created with 1,276 pieces of red, orange and yellow hand-blown glass and reminiscent of the Olympic flame, is the first of Chihuly's works to be presented as part of the artist's exhibition for the 2002 Cultural Olympiad.
Beginning Jan. 4, Chihuly will install a modified version of his "Temple of the Sun" and "Temple of the Moon" on the outdoor plaza of Abravanel Hall. (The first renditions of these sculptures were created for and installed at the Atlantis Resort Hotel on Paradise Island, Bahamas, in 1998.)
The original "Sun" has more than 2,300 yellow, orange and red glass elements radiating from a fiery globe atop a replica of a Mayan temple. It is 17 feet in diameter. The "Moon" sculpture, 13 feet in diameter, is a sphere of opalescent white and cobalt blue glass.
Another venue for Chihuly's Olympic exhibit will be the Salt Lake Art Center. The center is currently revamping its facility to showcase a variety of the artist's glass works and drawings.
The two-story gallery will display works from such Chihuly series as the "Macchia," "Baskets," "Persians," "Venetians" and more. The artist's drawings — those that inspired the finished blown-glass sculptures — will also be on display from Jan. 25 to March 17, 2002.
Last year Chihuly had an exhibition of glass vessels, "Chihuly Baskets," in the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University. The works were inspired by woven Indian baskets the artist saw during a visit to the Washington State Historical Museum in Tacoma.
E-MAIL: gag@desnews.com