Chihuly's chandelier on year loan at Crystal Bridges

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is keeping an additional piece from its exhibition of glass sculptor Dale Chihuly's work a little longer.

The Azure Icicle Chandelier, which has been hanging in the museum's Twentieth-Century Gallery for the past six months, will remain in place for a year on loan from Chihuly Studios.

"The loan extends the excitement of the Chihuly exhibition, which attracted more than 200,000 visitors, making it our highest-attended exhibition to date," Crystal Bridges Executive Director Rod Bigelow said in a statement. "The chandelier is a signature work by Dale Chihuly and was designed specifically for Crystal Bridges' unique setting. It's easy to see why it's been a visitor and staff favorite."

The two-tiered chandelier contains about 675 individual pieces of glass and was one of several installations created by Chihuly and his team for Crystal Bridges as part of an indoor-outdoor exhibition, which featured 300 objects spanning the artist's 50-year career.

The indoor exhibition was on view from June 3 to Aug. 14. The outdoor portion of the exhibition also opened in early June and was scheduled to close on Nov. 13.

The museum later extended the final date to Nov. 27 because of the popularity of the exhibition.

The highest attended exhibition at Crystal Bridges before Chihuly: In the Gallery and In the Forest was State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now, which attracted 175,000 visitors during a four-month run in 2014.

Chihuly's Azure Icicle Chandelier was one of four popular installations from the exhibition that Crystal Bridges considered acquiring from Chihuly Studios. The other three were Sole d'Oro and Fiori Boat, which were located on the outdoor trail, and the Niijima Floats drifting in Crystal Pond.

The museum let visitors decide which one would remain with a two-week public voting period. Fiori Boat, a wooden rowboat filled with 179 pieces of colorful glass forms, was selected and is now part of the permanent collection.

Metro on 12/02/2017

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