Natural Forms

Dale Chihuly’s beautiful glass pieces go on show around Kew Gardens this month. HOME has a preview

Words EVE HERBERT

Amajor exhibition of work by one of the world’s most celebrated contemporary glass artists comes to Kew Gardens this month. Seattle-based glass artist Dale Chihuly’s impressive luminous artworks go on display in a perfect marriage of art, science, and nature. Famous worldwide for his dazzling coloured glass sculptures, Chihuly’s work has been exhibited in an incredible 240 museums around the world over the course of his 50-year career. As well as glass, Chihuly uses paint, charcoal, graphite, neon, ice and Polyvitro to explore possibilities and realise his vision.

At Kew, Chihuly’s artworks will truly sing – unrestrained bursts of colour commanding a space of luscious greenery, showing visitors one of London’s few UNESCO world heritage sites in an entirely different way; its rolling vistas and ornate glasshouses transformed into a contemporary outdoor gallery space like no other.

A reverie of form, colour, and light, Chihuly’s exquisite artworks are often described as exaggerated celebrations of what is found in nature. As the most biodiverse postcode on the planet, Kew’s breathtaking landscape is the ideal home for such work. Visitors will make discoveries in their own time as they explore the gardens, experiencing surprise and wonder at what they find – graceful, luminous colour juxtaposed with the solid earthiness of nature. A total of 32 art installations will be situated across the gardens in a wide variety of locations.

Kew’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art (the world’s only gallery dedicated to botanical art), will host 12 bodies of work developed over 40 years, as well as a film detailing Chihuly’s creative process. Visitors to the gallery will experience the expressive lines and abstract forms of Chihuly’s Drawings, as well as the Rotolo series - the most technically challenging work Chihuly and his team have ever created, and Seaforms, delicate undulating forms that conjure underwater life, among others.

Other stunning locations for the artworks include the ornate Waterlily House, and the resplendent Palm House lake. The iconic Temperate House will be home to a brand new, specially designed sculpture, inspired by the cathedral-like space, as well as nine other installations.

Artist Dale Chihuly says: “I am honoured to bring my work once again to Kew, with its magnificent landscape and extraordinary glasshouses--structures which have always captivated me. How do you describe a beautiful building like the Palm House or the Temperate House? We are planning something special for the centre of the newly-restored Temperate House and I’m excited to see it come to fruition.”

Graceful, luminous colour juxtaposed with the solid earthiness of nature

CHIHULY AT KEW, REFLECTIONS ON NATURE 13 April – 27 October 2019 kew.org