Dale Chihuly Interview (page: 5 / 6) Master Glass Artist	Print Interview

Do you think you faced any special challenges in working with glass?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Dale Chihuly: One of the problems in working with glass is that, because glass is so beautiful, and almost no matter what color it is, it's gorgeous, so no matter what you make, people are interested in it. So, in a funny way, you can get away with a lot, because just put the glass out there and people are going to be attracted to it. And the fact that it's so beautiful doesn't work for everything you're trying, for a certain type of thing -- statement you want to make, or concept you have -- glass might not work. Unless you're interested in beauty. Fortunately, that interests me a lot, the idea of making things that make people feel good and give a lot of joy to a lot of people. We talked earlier about the idea of working and not ever having anyone see or appreciate what you're making. And artists have worked, sometimes, their whole life that way, in total seclusion. I can't imagine that would be very fun. But for me, not long after I was able to make things that people were interested in seeing -- I was lucky it happened to me soon -- but the more I was able to make that interested people, the more I wanted to interest people. I was really, maybe to a fault, interested in being able to do exhibitions that would have a wide appeal. I like it when a lot of people enjoy what I'm doing. On the other hand, I am capable of making things that people don't like! But I like it better when they do like it. Or I like it better that -- eventually, what I'm making -- that they will like, and under some context it works. What I'm doing here, at the Academy, we're hanging six chandeliers for the banquet, and these chandeliers, which I started making four years ago, initially were not very appreciated, for whatever reason. In that case I didn't pay much attention to that, and within a couple of years, people started getting interested. And now, when they see them, they like them more. Part of that is just the familiarity of seeing something. You can't always expect people to like it the first time.

[ Key to Success ] Vision

What kinds of setbacks did you have on your career path, and how did you overcome them?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Dale Chihuly: I suppose the most obvious setback that I had, I mean, I lost my brother and my father when I was in high school. And that certainly had a profound effect on me. And then I got in a wreck -- lost the sight of my eye -- in 1976, which made it hard for me to blow glass. It was a near-fatal accident, and six months in recuperation. I suppose that could have been a big setback, but it wasn't. I mean, it didn't get me down that much. I felt fortunate to have survived it. I suppose I could have taken a different perspective on the whole thing. I could have gotten depressed over it, but I didn't. I think sometimes those things make you look at things in a different way. Setbacks. Most setbacks in my own life have been self-inflicted. Depression, or whatever. Something to get you down and out. Usually that comes about for who knows what reason. But in terms of my career, I've been very lucky. I've had a lot of help, a lot of support from other people, and a lot of opportunities. That doesn't mean I didn't make a lot of those opportunities, but I think some of it must be some good luck.

[ Key to Success ] Perseverance

Did you ever have any doubts about your work or your ability?

Dale Chihuly: Yeah, you do. You have doubts. But you don't want those doubts when you're making the work. If you have doubts about work while you're making it, it's hard to make it. So you have to have some kind of vision about what you're trying to do, and then while you're doing that, you have to be very confident, or else it's not going to do well, probably. So when I'm in the middle of doing something, I'm usually feeling pretty good about it. But sometimes I'll go in there and work, and just nothing can go right. If I'm starting something new, it can go on for months. Generally, once you know what you think you want to do, you shouldn't have doubts about it. Maybe somebody can work that way. Art's made in a lot of different ways.

Have you ever worried that you would fail?

Dale Chihuly: I have certainly worried that I could fail on things. But it's not been a very big part of my career. Certainly there are times when you just don't feel good about it. It's probably because you don't feel good about yourself. Who knows? There are times when it doesn't feel right, and you're concerned. I'm much more concerned about failing in my personal life than I am in my career.

Do you think there's less creativity in the art world today than in other periods?

Dale Chihuly: I don't think you can find a period when there wasn't creativity in art. I'm sure this is a very creative time, but it's a strange time, what people want to do and what they consider creative. A lot of the art that's made obviously is not very pretty. It can be more political. It can be performance art. We still make great films, great theater, great dance, great architecture. It would be sort of unlikely that we weren't making great art.

A lot of art that's exhibited today is so difficult, it appears so devoid of content, or so obscure, that it's almost impossible for most viewers to draw anything from it.

Dale Chihuly: There are some very strange things you can find in exhibitions. But that's the way art is. There's always been a lot of strange art. It doesn't look strange sometimes to us now as we look back at it, but it did at the time. Van Gogh is a good example.

The ability to forge ahead when your work goes unrecognized, is that essential to creativity?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Dale Chihuly: The reality of it is, it takes an unbelievable amount of belief in yourself to do something over and over for ten or 20 years without anybody thinking that it's any good. I mean, people did it, but I couldn't. I'm sure I couldn't. I can tell you from experience, and having taught a lot of really great students -- I taught for about 12 years at the oldest and largest art school, Rhode Island School of Design -- and the students, after five years or so, if they didn't make some progress, if somebody wasn't interested, they usually went on and did something else. Maybe related, they used that information, but they didn't stay on in their studio. I know there are exceptions, and maybe it's the time also. Maybe in another century, when people weren't as interested in art, with different types of patronage that could work.

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