Washington's Goodwill Ambassador

by Deborah Rubin Fields

IN THE YEAR 2000, Washington artist Dale Chihuly put this question to the people of Israel: "What's incredibly hard to make, but simple to break?"

Through his installation at the Tower of David Museum, Chihuly showed the Israeli people that there is more than one way to solve this riddle. His simple and thoughtful answer was: "glass and peace." And who but a leading glass artist like Chihuly was better suited to demonstrate just how connected glass and peace are?

Perhaps you are familiar with the work of Washington's world-famous glassmaker. He has been creating glass art and teaching glassmaking since the 1960s. What you may not know is that in 2000 Chihuly used his art to promote peace and goodwill amongst all the different people living in Israel.

Chihuly did not come to Israel as a politician. He did not make tons of speeches. He did not hold lots of meetings with government officials. Instead, he let his art be the message. Putting the art into words, his message stated: Here is the glass we made. It is very fragile. If we are careless, it breaks. But if we are very careful, it lasts. Not only is it beautiful, it may be useful.

In his exhibit, Light of Jerusalem 2000, the artist used glass symbolically. He used it to show that peace is possible in Israel. He did so by neatly comparing the hard-to-understand idea of peace to a fragile object like glass.

Chihuly reminded people that while today glass is all around; it bears a long and intriguing development. It is made by melting together three basic ingredients: sand, lime and soda. Add certain metals and you end up with colored glass.

Small-scale glass production has remained pretty much the same for hundreds of years. It involves a series of steps. In the early stages, the glassmaker gathers molten glass onto a long clay or metal blowpipe. The pipe allows the glassmaker to both hold the glass without getting burned and to blow air through it. The "gather" is then heated in a super-hot oven called a "glory hole." Once heated, the glass is expanded by blowing air into it through the blowpipe. Shaping is done by quickly rolling the hot glass on a "marver" or thick plate of marble or steel. Additional smoothing and shaping is done with wooden paddles, metal tools, or by inserting the hot glass into a mold. 

Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Persians all manufactured glass. They produced glass objects such as perfume containers, jewelry, figurines, pitchers, and drinking glasses for use in homes, temples, and businesses.

Since glassblowing began in the eastern Mediterranean region, Chihuly felt a special tie to Israel. Yet, in his Jerusalem show, Chihuly literally blew the idea of glassmaking out of proportion. In fact, the pieces he brought to Jerusalem's Tower of David Museum in the summer of 1999 were gigantic and bold.

Imagine a 15-meter tall [49 ft., 2.6 inches] "Crystal Mountain," built to take advantage of Jerusalem's special golden-pink sunrises and sunsets. To do so, Chihuly's team constructed this "mountain" from 2000 pink, crystal-like chunks of plastic, specially molded to look like the glass that had inspired it.

Not only were the crystals enormous in scale, they were strong enough to survive Jerusalem's hot days-when summer temperatures are frequently between 80 and 90 degrees F. (30s° C) with cold, windy nights. Not so lucky was the 62-ton ice wall that was specially constructed to symbolize the dream of melting away differences that cause people to war.

The whole installation showed Chihuly's love for Jerusalem and his respect for its long history. It drew attention to the ancient Tower of David, parts of which are so old that they date back to the time of King Herod. In the 2000-year-old ruins at the tower's base, glass floats and "saguaros" spilled over and among the ancient building blocks of the archaeology garden. As visitors looked down into the ruins filled with glass forms, they were also looking deep into Jerusalem's rich past.

"I thought Venice was the ultimate city, but the stone and history of Jerusalem, its complexity, make this an even more fascinating place," said Chihuly in an interview with Hadassah Magazine. "It couldn't be more beautiful. The juxtaposition of stone, one of the hardest materials that stood the test of time, and glass, the most fragile, transparent material, gave me another reason to work in this great city."

Chihuly's Light of Jerusalem 2000 cost nearly a million dollars to produce and install, but in the end, more than a million Jews, Christians and Moslems visited the exhibition shoulder-to-shoulder, in peace.

Peacemaking, like glassmaking, requires patience and creativity. It requires skill and experience. Chihuly's Jerusalem installation was a message of hope-a message that said to all who looked on, that differences can melt and that, like the making of glass, peace is possible.

__________________________________________________

Read More About It:

How Is Glass Made? Questions and Answers. Lesley Firth (editor). New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1986.

Chihuly Jerusalem 2000, Chihuly Studios. Seattle: Portland Press, 2000.

Chihuly Studios.

__________________________________________________

Author Deborah Rubin Fields lives and writes in Jerusalem.

 

 

 

©2008    Washington State Historical Society   |  Contact Us   |  Privacy Statement   |  Public Records Privacy Policy   |  Webmaster