Dale Chihuly - Studio Editions

Dale Chihuly Studio Editions

Bill Lowe Gallery

Each year Dale Chihuly interprets one or more of his series into a stunning work of glass art known as his Studio Editions. With the first Studio Edition released in 1994, these vibrant sculptures have become much sought after treasures. Each Studio Edition is hand blown by Chihuly's team of master craftsmen to his specifications. Due to the process involved in hand-blowing, each individual piece varies in color, size, and shape and can therefore be considered unique. Chihuly hand signs each Studio Edition (for those Studio Editions which feature multiple glass elements, his signature will always be found on the smallest piece).

In terms of the investment required, Studio Editions are substantially more accessible for collectors to acquire as compared to his standard work, for which only a single sculpture is created for each design.

The Studio Editions are not limited in number but are retired after several years. Editions that are retired or sold-out typically become more valuable as evidenced by their performance on the secondary market.

Each Studio Edition comes with its own Plexiglas vitrine and black base for display and is accompanied by a book about the glass series from which it came. There are currently eight series and include Baskets, Cylinders, Fiori, Ikebana, Macchia, Persians, Seaforms, and Venetians.

Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly is most frequently lauded for revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement, by expanding its original premise of the solitary artist working in a studio environment to encompass the notion of collaborative teams and a division of labor within the creative process. However, Chihuly’s contribution extends well beyond the boundaries of both this movement and even the field of glass: his achievements have influenced contemporary art in general. Chihuly’s practice of using teams has led to the development of complex, multipart sculptures of dramatic beauty that place him in the leadership role of moving blown glass out of the confines of the small, precious object and into the realm of large-scale contemporary sculpture. In fact, Chihuly deserves credit for establishing the blown-glass form as an accepted vehicle for installation and environmental art, beginning in the late twentieth century and continuing today.

A prodigiously prolific artist whose work balances content with an investigation of the material's properties of translucency and transparency, Chihuly began working with glass at a time when reverence for the medium and for technique was paramount. A student of interior design and architecture in the early 1960s, by 1965 he had become captivated by the process of glassblowing. He enrolled in the University of Wisconsin's hot glass program, the first of its kind in the United States, established by Studio Glass movement founder Harvey K. Littleton. After receiving a degree in sculpture, Chihuly was admitted to the ceramics program at the Rhode Island School of Design, only to establish its renowned glass program, turning out a generation of recognized artists.

Influenced by an environment that fostered the blurring of boundaries separating all the arts, as early as 1967 Chihuly was using neon, argon, and blown-glass forms to create room-sized installations of organic, freestanding, plantlike imagery. He brought this interdisciplinary approach to the arts to the legendary Pilchuck School in Stanwood, Washington, which he cofounded in 1971 and served as its first artistic director until 1989. Under Chihuly's guidance, Pilchuck has become a gathering place for international artists with diverse backgrounds. His studios, which include an old racingshell factory in Seattle called The Boathouse and now buildings in the Ballard section of the city and in Tacoma, Washington, have become a mecca for artists, collectors, and museum professionals involved in all media.

Stylistically during the past forty years, Chihuly's sculptures in glass have explored color, line, and assemblage. Although his work ranges from the single vessel to indoor/outdoor site-specific installations, he is best known for his multipart blown compositions. These works fall into the categories of mini-environments designed for the tabletop and large, often serialized forms displayed in groupings on pedestals or attached to specially engineered structures that dominate large exterior or interior spaces.

Chihuly and his teams have created a wide vocabulary of blown forms, revisiting and refining earlier shapes while at the same time creating exciting new elements, such as his recent Fiori, all of which demonstrate mastery and understanding of glassblowing techniques. Earlier forms, such as the Baskets, Seaforms, Ikebana, Venetians, and Chandeliers from the late 1970s through the 1990s, continue to reappear with fresh variations and within new contexts.

since the early 1980s, all of Chihuly’s work has been marked by intense, vibrant color and by subtle linear decoration. At first he achieved patterns by fusing into the surface of his vessels “drawings” composed of prearranged glass threads; he then had his forms blown in optic molds, which created ribbed motifs. He also explored in the Macchia series bold, colorful lip wraps that contrasted sharply with the brilliant colors of his vessels. Finally, beginning with the Venetians of the early 1990s, elongated, linear blown forms, a product of the glassblowing process, have become part of his vocabulary, resulting in highly baroque, writhing elements.

Chihuly’s work is strongly autobiographical. His fascination with abstracted flower forms, reminiscent for him of his mother's garden in Tacoma, has been discussed in depth in the literature. Likewise, series such as his Seaforms, Niijima Floats, and even the Chandeliers allude to his childhood in Tacoma, marked by his love of the sea and his recognition of its importance to the economy of the Pacific Northwest. Even in the few instances in which the artist has chosen to respond to earlier historical decorative arts forms, the imagery has personal significance. The Basket series, for instance, developed out of the woven Northwest Coast Indian baskets that Chihuly saw in 1977 with his friend the sculptor Italo Scanga and with the sculptor James Carpenter at the Tacoma Historical Society.

Over the years the artist has created a number of memorable installation exhibitions, including Chihuly Over Venice (1995–96), Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000 at the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem (2000), Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory (2001–2), the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma (2002), and Mille Fiori at the Tacoma Art Museum (2003). These installations confirm the artist’s sensitivity to architectural context and his interest in the interplay of natural light on the glass that exploits its translucency and transparency. Recent situations have heightened this effect, since the buildings Chihuly has selected as sites for the works have themselves been of glass.

While elements of the earlier installations allude to natural phenomena such as icicles and vegetation, gardens provide the dominant theme in Chihuly’s most recent ones. Sites that include Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory and the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio, as well as future projects at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Kew Gardens, London, enable the artist to juxtapose monumental, organically shaped sculptural forms with beautiful landscaping, establishing a direct and immediate interaction between nature and art. Moreover, Chihuly’s most recent installations at the Tacoma Art Museum and at Marlborough Gallery, New York, reveal the artist’s progression toward a logical next direction: installations that are gardens themselves. In a sense, Chihuly has come full circle; now using his mature vocabulary, he captures in these installations the joie de vivre of the plantlike forms of his early neon environments.

A dominant presence in the art world, Dale Chihuly and his work have long provoked considerable controversy as part of the art/craft debate. However, with exhibitions at such major museum venues as the Victoria and Albert in London (2001) and San Francisco’s de Young (2008), there can be little doubt that his lasting contribution to art of our times is an established fact.

Dale Chihuly’s triumphant Black series debuted in 2007 and features a dominant use of black intensified with striking colors. “I started the Black series with making the Black Cylinders. I wasn’t necessarily going to do anything else in black, but I went ahead and did the Soft Cylinders in black, the Baskets in black, the Macchia in black, and about that time I kind of felt it was a series unto itself,” explains Chihuly.

Bill Lowe Gallery is thrilled to introduce the first Studio Edition from the Black series, Majestic Macchia. The rhythmic form fluctuates in one fluid movement with contrasting colors meeting in this inaugural 2009 Studio Edition. The black exterior is accented with a mixture of blue tones including a line of soft turquoise melted into sections of gold leaf. The interior radiates lustrous blue, and a bright green color highlights the lip.

Accompanying each piece is the largest formatted publication on the artist’s work to date, Chihuly Black, which features 138 beautiful color photographs and a debossed leather-bound cover. Majestic Macchia, measuring ten inches in height, is signed by Chihuly and includes a Plexiglas vitrine for display.

Rich traditions of Venetian glassblowing contribute to the inspiration found in Dale Chihuly’s Persian series. The artist Walter Darby Bannard explains further: “There is a popular misconception that great modernist art always makes a radical break with the past. In fact, very good new art often breaks with the present by going back to the past. “

Majestic Macchia Glass 200

Majestic Macchia Handblown Glass, 2009 $ 6,600

Rich traditions of Venetian glassblowing contribute to the inspiration found in Dale Chihuly’s Persian series. The artist Walter Darby Bannard explains further: “There is a popular misconception that great modernist art always makes a radical break with the past. In fact, very good new art often breaks with the present by going back to the past. “ Misty Persian Pair, a 2009 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, is the quintessential Persian form, with undulating edges and captivating color. Concentric bands of turquoise cover the surface, complemented by a darker blue line that adds depth and detail. A flattened spherical shape that seems to be a playful, living entity rests inside. The pair is accented with a citron yellow lip wrap.

Accompanying Misty Persian Pair are the 104-page hardcover book Chihuly Persians and a Plexiglas vitrine for display. The piece is signed

by Dale Chihuly and measures approximately eleven inches across.

Misty Persian Pair embodies the ethereal style and vivid colors found in Chihuly’s Persians.

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Misty Persian Pair Handblown Glass, 2009 $ 5,600

Dale Chihuly’s Seaform series consists of ribbed forms displayed in graceful ensembles that appear complex yet naturally elegant. “We are using gravity, centrifugal force, the heat, the fire, all of these different elements, and in many ways we are not totally in control. It’s letting the glass also make the form,“ explains Chihuly regarding the principles of his glass-blowing process, as found especially in his Seaform series.

Ginger Plum Seaform is composed of two elements, one precariously embracing the other to set off a constellation of white, green, blue, and red colored spots scattered across their purple exteriors. Each piece features a double body wrap with an ambercolored interior and is accented with a delicate teal lip wrap.

This 2009 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition measures approximately eleven inches across, with Chihuly’s signature engraved on the smaller piece. Each Ginger Plum Seaform comes with a Plexiglas vitrine and a copy of Chihuly Seaforms, which includes forty- four full-color photographs and an extensive essay by art critic Joan Seeman Robinson.

Ginger Plum Seaform combines contemporary colors with classic form.

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Ginger Plum Seaform Handblown Glass, 2009 $ 5,100

One of his most celebrated series, Dale Chihuly’s Persians eloquently capture his love of compelling colors and energetic forms. In an essay found in Chihuly Persians, art historian Tina Oldknow describes Chihuly’s diverse color palette as “subtle, intense, simple, complicated, dark, light: Chihuly’s colors are his signature. “ This 2009 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, Aspen Green Persian, incorporates the opulent colors and exquisite lines of Chihuly’s Persian series.

This piece is highlighted by a radiant citron green, with delightful shades of green, yellow, and red spots sprinkled on the back like lingering confetti from a late-night celebration. A contrasting red lip wrap delineates a softly rippled and folded edge, and thin lines radiate outward around the body, beginning at the ball foot, on which the Persian rests.

Handblown, and signed by Chihuly, Aspen Green Persian measures approximately nine inches across. Accompanying each Studio Edition are a Plexiglas vitrine and Chihuly Persians, a publication featuring an in-depth essay by Tina Oldknow, current curator of modern glass at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Aspen Green Persian is a festive blend of exotic form and intense color.

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Aspen Green Persian Handblown Glass, 2009 $ 4,100

Dale Chihuly's Macchia series is renowned for its innovative use of color and extravagant design. Macchia, from the Italian word for "spotted," have brilliant and wildly contrasting color palettes, inside and out, that are separated by a layer of white glass "clouds" to maintain the vibrancy of the colors. Chihuly recalls, "When we unloaded the ovens in the morning, there was a rush of seeing something I had never seen before. Like much of my work, the series inspired itself. The unbelievable combinations of color that became the driving force."

The 2008 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, Dakota Macchia, bursts in a kaleidoscope of color. The rich blue exterior is accentuated with luminous spots of green and yellow and fine lines of reddish orange. The striking magenta interior provides an alluring contrast, and the entire form is edged with a warm yellow lip wrap.

Dakota Macchia comes with a specially designed vitrine and a copy of Chihuly alla Macchia, a volume that features images from the George R. Stroemple Collection and an essay by art historian Robert Hobbs. This handblown piece, signed by Chihuly, is approximately ten inches high.

Dakota Macchia exhibits the quintessential Macchia design and will be a distinguished addition to any collection.

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Dakota Macchia Handblown Glass, 2008 $ 7,100

In the late 1970s, Dale Chihuly was inspired to begin his Basket series after seeing Northwest Coast Indian baskets at the Washington State Historical Society. During a period of experimentation, he discovered that using as few tools as possible and letting the glass find its own form allowed him to achieve the effects now exemplified by this elegant series. Michael Monroe, executive director and chief curator of the Bellevue Art Museum, explains that "this tension, pressure or force is reflected in his glass Baskets, which appear malleable and very light. They seem to be moving under a stress more sensed than seen."

Rich design and fine technique are evident in the organic classic Chihuly form of this Vienna Green Basket Set. This extraordinary two-part 2008 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition consists of a green Basket in an intriguing collapsed form. A smaller green form rests inside the larger piece, and both have contrasting black lip wraps.

Vienna Green Basket Set measures approximately eleven inches wide by four inches high. Chihuly's signature appears on the smaller piece. Also included is a custom-designed Plexiglas vitrine and a copy of Chihuly: Baskets, the 148-page publication detailing the history of the Basket series.

Vienna Green Basket Set is a striking and seductive work of art that will lure any fine art connoisseur.

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Vienna Green Basket Set Handblown Glass, 2008 $ 5,600

The Persian series presents dynamic variations on open and closed forms executed in intense color. Persians also evoke the rhythms of organic shapes. "Their energy expands and explodes the fundamental spherical or cylindrical shapes of blown glass into eccentric and unforeseen new forms," notes acclaimed art historian and critic Barbara Rose.

This two-part 2008 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition entitled Phoenix Persian Pair demands attention. The large open element presents a rich yellow band of color wrapping, which is then edged with a red lip. Inside, a red and orange fantastical lily form provides a dramatic contrast. Together they are a lyrical representation of one of Dale Chihuly's most original series.

The handblown Phoenix Persian Pair is signed by Chihuly and measures approximately thirteen inches across. The set is accompanied by a custom-designed Plexiglas display vitrine with a black base and by a hardcover book, Chihuly Persians, which features an essay by art historian Tina Oldknow.

Phoenix Persian Pair, a superb example of the lush Persian series with its opulent colors and exotic forms, will attract both new and existing admirers of Chihuly's work.

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Phoenix Persian Pair Handblown Glass, 2008 $ 6,100

"I started by making up a color chart with one color for the interior, another color for the exterior, and a contrasting lip wrap, along with various jimmies and dusts of pigment between the gathers of glass," says Dale Chihuly.

His Macchia series exhibits chromatic variations with rich hues and spots of color joined to flowing, ribbed forms. Throughout the blowing process, colors are added, layer upon layer. Each piece is another experiment.

Firefly Macchia, a 2008 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, features an elegant form with harmonious fusions of color. The exterior layers of color include a rich red that merges into deep orange, with small black macchia that add depth and detail. Turquoise clouds float within the interior, and a glowing yellow lip wrap outlines the rim of this striking piece.

Accompanying Firefly Macchia are a specially designed display vitrine and a copy of Chihuly alla Macchia, a beautifully illustrated volume that details the Macchia series. This fine, handblown work of art, signed by Chihuly, measures approximately six inches high.

Each piece in the edition will vary slightly in size, shape, and color.

Firefly Macchia will bring style and flair to any collection.

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Firefly Macchia Handblown Glass, 2008 $ 4,600

Inspired by Northwest Native American baskets collapsing under their own weight, Dale Chihuly set out to express the aging and worn vessels in glass. "Like an Indian youth at the climax of his spirit quest, he felt some inexplicable connection with the baskets and through them with something universal," says Northwest historian Murray Morgan.

The 2007 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Honeysuckle Yellow Basket Set embodies the classic idea of his Basket series with soft waves rippling along a relaxed, slumping body. The large yellow Basket, delicately blown through and nearly transparent, reveals two smaller elements nestled inside, creating an airy, ethereal effect. Each piece is accented with a contrasting black lip wrap.

The smallest piece of the handblown Honeysuckle Yellow Basket Set is signed by Chihuly and the entire work measures approximately eight inches high. Also included is a custom-designed Plexiglas display vitrine and Chihuly: Baskets, the 148-page publication detailing the pictoral history of the Basket series with essays by former museum curator Linda Norden and Murray Morgan.

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Honeysuckle Yellow Basket Set Handblown Glass, 2007 $ 7,600

With their exotic, fluid shapes, Dale Chihuly's Persians swirl with kinetic energy, mimicking ancient vessels or blending into a natural landscape almost seamlessly. "I love to juxtapose the man-made and the natural to make people wonder and ask, Are they man-made or did they come from nature? That's a very important part of my work," says Chihuly.

Celtic Emerald Persian Pair blazes with bright and vibrant color. Measuring approximately eleven inches across, the larger piece is blown through, bright green in the center to a dark, shadowy green along the edge, accented by a golden yellow lip wrap. Echoing these same colors, a smaller, coiling element rests inside looking as if it were a live garden creature reaching out to the viewer. Winding around both elements, dark and light green body wraps create a virtual glow.

The larger element of this handblown 2007 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition is signed by Chihuly. A Plexiglas vitrine and Chihuly Persians, a hardcover book featuring sixty color photos of the Persian series with an essay by museum curator Tina Oldknow, are included.

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Celtic Emerald Persian Pair Handblown Glass, 2007 $ 6,600

Undulating and exquisite, Dale Chihuly's Seaforms are implicitly pliant and mobile, even in their solid forms. "They open up and curl in a kind of voluptuous solicitation, restorative and generous, in a sensuous repose," says art critic Joan Seeman Robinson. These rippling forms are made by blowing the hot glass into ribbed molds, producing radial lines that add strength and allow the molten glass to be thinner, creating an illusion of motion.

The 2007 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Royal Raspberry Seaform Pair consists of two elements, both characteristically weightless, but with an unusual body wrap that adds visible depth and tangible texture, flattened and pale pink inside the curves, though otherwise vivid and dimensional. Between ripples of magenta, a vibrant lime green is revealed from the insides of both pieces, catching the eye, intriguing the connoisseur.

Engraved with Chihuly's signature on the smaller piece, this Studio Edition is handblown and measures approximately eleven inches across. The artwork arrives with a Plexiglas vitrine for display and Chihuly Seaforms, a hardcover book containing forty-four color photographs and essays by Joan Seeman Robinson and oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

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Royal Raspberry Seaform Pair Handblown Glass, 2007 $ 6,100

Dale Chihuly's Persians echo distant and exciting cultures, history stretching back to ancient times, and a fascination with spontaneous form and bold color.

Of this series, museum curator Tina Oldknow says, "Chihuly's early Persians hint at glass's distant past: the small, dense, and rare core-formed vessels that first appeared in Egypt about 1,500 BC and in Mesopotamia (Iraq) around 1,300 BC." Dragonfly Persian is at once both archetypal and daring, both modern and ancient. A single orange piece flaring open from a ball foot is rimmed with a royal blue lip wrap. Dark blue and black flecks together with a warm brown body wrap and an iridescent shimmer highlight the back of the piece.

Handblown and measuring approximately nine inches across, the 2007 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Dragonfly Persian is signed by Chihuly. A Plexiglas display vitrine is included, as is the hardcover book Chihuly Persians.

With sixty color photographs and an essay by curator of modern glass at the Corning Museum Tina Oldknow, the book provides an overview and history of the Persian series.

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Dragonfly Persian Handblown Glass, 2007 $ 5,100

"I see the riotous color, contrasting textures, and exotic, Eastern cast of Venice as the spiritual source of the Persians, celebrating the mystery and romance of Venice as much as the distant, yet powerful, presence of Persia and Byzantium," says museum curator Tina Oldknow of Dale Chihuly's Persian series. Bold, they resist conventional classifications of shape but still whisper of exotic and ancient vessels.

Lapis Persian Pair takes hold of all that characterizes this series: vivid, contrasting colors; tantalizing, angular shapes; and molded ribs that create dramatically scalloped edges. In this 2006 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, an orange and red element rests inside a bright blue spinner with a vivid red lip wrap. Strong shots of electric blue from the larger piece radiate through the transparent bands of the smaller.

This Studio Edition is handblown and measures approximately eleven inches across. The orange and red element is signed by Chihuly. Also included is a display vitrine and the book Chihuly Persians. In this charming hardcover, fifty-eight photographs and an essay by Tina Oldknow provide an intriguing study of this beautiful series.

Lapis Persian Pair celebrates the classic origins of the Persian series with exuberant color.

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Lapis Persian Pair Handblown Glass, 2006 $ 6,600

A fearless series devoted to unconventional and intrepid color combinations, the Macchia bring Dale Chihuly's continually evolving palette of color to new heights. In the words of former curator Henry Geldzahler, "You see color as you've never seen it before, as if color itself were floating in the air. It is an elevating experience. It makes you walk a bit lighter for the rest of the day."

In the 2006 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Pacific Sunrise Macchia, a strong sense of movement rises out of intense combinations of primary colors. A bright yellow lip wrap outlines clouds of aquatic blue and deep red that float under a slender amber coil. This richly colored strata fades to a transparent base in pleasing counterpoint to the saturated hues above.

Handblown and measuring approximately nine inches high, Pacific Sunrise Macchia is signed by Chihuly. A display vitrine and Chihuly alla Macchia, a book detailing the evolution of this series with 104 photographs and an introduction by art historian Robert Hobbs, are included with this Studio Edition.

Pacific Sunrise Macchia uses refreshing color combinations to write a brilliant new chapter in the Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition collection.

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Pacific Sunrise Macchia Handblown Glass, 2006 $ 7,600

Combining shapes born from gravity and strengthened by gentle waves, Dale Chihuly's Macchia occupy a place between fragile and fortified. "Chihuly's glass is purely about the creation of form, given the reality that glass is liquid when hot and that gravity is a fact of life; when liquid, glass wants to fall, to droop, to sag," remarks former curator Henry Geldzahler. These natural properties of hot glass can be harnessed to create shapes that appear organic and fluid even when cool.

A Bill Lowe Gallery 2006 Studio Edition, Desert Yellow Macchia exhibits supple curves along a softly bowed form, creating an illusion of continuing collapse. Two shades of green "jimmies," small pieces of colored glass rolled onto the golden yellow surface of the form, stand out against a bright red body wrap and accentuate a forest green lip. The work is signed by Chihuly and measures approximately eight inches across.

This handblown Studio Edition arrives with a custom-designed display vitrine and Chihuly alla Macchia, a book detailing the evolution of this series with 104 photographs and an introduction by art historian Robert Hobbs.

Alive with the memory of its molten state, Desert Yellow Macchia is an inspiring addition to any fine art collection.

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Desert Yellow Macchia Handblown Glass, 2006 $ 5,100

"Because their shapes are so amorphous and irregular, their walls so convoluted and their contours so elaborate, they refute classical balance, achieving a kind of delicate equipoise," writer Joan Seeman Robinson says of Dale Chihuly's Seaforms. In this series, Chihuly's well-known natural shapes and alluring colors combine to create forms caught in a perfectly weightless moment.

The 2006 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Roman Red Seaform Pair sits nimbly poised in an astonishing configuration of soft waves. Two warm red elements balance each other, both traced with velvety black body spirals and lip wraps. Yellow and black speckles melt into the exterior of both pieces, creating depth and texture against the rich red field.

The smaller element of the handblown Roman Red Seaform Pair is signed by Chihuly; the entire work measures approximately eleven inches across. Also included is a custom-designed display vitrine and Chihuly Seaforms, a hardcover book that contains forty-four color photographs as well as informative essays by art critic Joan Seeman Robinson and oceanographer Sylvia Earle.

Two elements in equilibrium, Roman Red Seaform Pair offers an enchanting and modern portrait of ideal harmony.

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Roman Red Seaform Pair Handblown Glass, 2006 $ 6,100

Like an abstract dream, Dale Chihuly's Fiori possess a beguiling element of the fantastic. The series was born from the artist's desire to create a garden of glass for the Tacoma Art Museum's first exhibition in its new building by Antoine Predock. Mille Fiori, Dale's answer to the challenge, was remarkable for its chimerical arrangements of color and form.

Writes art historian Barbara Rose, "Dale Chihuly has made fantasy environments that delight and enchant in ways that stimulate others to dream."

The 2005 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition Bel Fiore intensifies these otherworldly delights. The single form rests on its side, a haze of golden yellow clouds surrounding a bright red, gently twisting spire. The handblown work is signed by Chihuly and measures approximately twelve inches across.

Portland Press ships each Studio Edition with a Plexiglas vitrine designed to protect and display the piece. Included with the artwork is Chihuly Gardens & Glass, a hardcover book with three essays and seventy-two photographs of Chihuly's work in botanical gardens and outdoor locations around the world. This volume also features images of vintage conservatory postcards from Chihuly's own collection.

Bel Fiore, the first Studio Edition from the Fiori series, is a distinctive work that uses vivid primary colors to create a captivating reverie.

This Studio Edition will be discontinued December 31st, 2009

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Bel Fiore Handblown Glass, 2005 $ 8,100

Dale Chihuly's Persians ignite the imagination with a seductive appearance of fragility. "In exploring ways to make the pieces thinner and stronger, I tried blowing them into ribbed molds that could give them additional strength." explains Chihuly. This added support allows the creation of unusual forms that bend and twist with agile grace, a distinctive characteristic of the Persian series.

In Amethyst Persian, this technique makes for a dynamic pairing. The larger of the two pieces, measuring approximately eleven inches across, rests on a ball foot and fans out to create an oasis for the gently coiled serpentine form.

Bands of velvety lilac spiral around both pieces in a pleasing contrast to the transparent violet of the larger form and the lime green interior of the smaller.

This handblown 2005 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition is signed by Chihuly and accompanied by a Plexiglas vitrine and the book Chihuly Persians, a hardcover with an informative essay and sixty color images that illustrate the variety of the Persian series.

The delicately balanced shape of Amethyst Persian comes alive with voluptuous color entwined in arabesque patterns, and would make an excellent addition to your fine art collection.

This Studio Edition will be discontinued December 31st, 2009

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Amethyst Persian Handblown Glass, 2005 $ 7,100

Art historian Robert Hobbs describes the essential qualities of Dale Chihuly's Macchia: "Seen under bright light they look like nature caught on fire, nature in molten flux, nature in the process of being created." Works in this series glow with an internal radiance, as layers of opaque and translucent color produce an effect of depth and mystery.

Sunset Macchia, a 2005 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition, smolders with this elemental intensity. Its rippling, lime-tinted surface peppered with forest green spots and threads of dark crimson gives dimension to the exterior.

A lemon yellow lip wrap defines the edge of the opening, and light refracts within its magenta core, giving Sunset Macchia extraordinary vitality.

Chihuly engraves his signature onto this handblown work, which stands approximately seven inches tall. Delivered with it is the book Chihuly alla Macchia, a hardcover that explores the history of the Macchia series with an essay by Robert Hobbs and illustrative, close-up photographs of thirty-nine Macchia. This piece is also shipped with a Plexiglas display case.

Classic Chihuly, Sunset Macchia is an ebullient addition to the Studio Edition collection.

This Studio Edition will be discontinued December 31st, 2009

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Sunset Macchia Handblown Glass, 2005 $ 5,600

Dale Chihuly's Basket series grew from new inspiration as he began to take greater advantage of the natural properties of glass. "The Baskets went on to inform many of the series that followed. This blowing technique was the result of trying to make the forms appear as natural as possible," says Chihuly of the series that he takes to the limits of molten glass.

Chihuly's penchant for combining elements together to create a whole is delicately expressed in the handblown Blue Sky Basket Set, and the ethereal transparency of the piece invites marvel. Two pale blue vessels with black lip wraps yield to gravity, their transparent forms exhibiting the subtle characteristics of Chihuly's Basket series. One piece seems to float inside the other while fine lip wraps arc across the composition, adding a refined sense of grace to this 2004 Bill Lowe Gallery Studio Edition.

Blue Sky Basket Set measures approximately eight inches in height and is signed by the artist. A Plexiglas vitrine is included for presentation and the 148-page publication Chihuly: Baskets will enhance your appreciation of this wonderful series.

This Studio Edition will be discontinued December 31st, 2009

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Blue Sky Basket Set Handblown Glass, 2004 $ 6,600

Bill Lowe Gallery 1555 Peachtree Street | Suite 100 | Atlanta | Georgia | 30309 404.352.8114 | www.lowegallery.com | info@lowegallery.com