Chihuly sculpture given to Denver Botanic Gardens
Above: Rendering of Dale Chihuly's "Colorado. from bizjournals.com
I was curious if the Denver Botanic Gardens would be able to keep any of the Chihuly pieces, and it turns out someone has donated a piece called “Colorado” to be reminiscent of our Colorado sunsets. It sounds like it is designed to “withstand” the weather, so I hope that goes for hail as well. I asked the info desk lady last time I was in about hail and she said the glass is very thick and holds up well under most small hail.
Anyway, I digress, it’s excited that a new piece will be installed at the gardens to be on permanent display – I think the work is very beautiful in the garden environment. However, I won’t miss the hordes of people that the Chihuly exhibit has been bringing in, it is believed that the exhibit helped push attendance to 1.1 million for the year thus far, setting a new annual record, as the previous high was 879,000 yearly attendees in 2013. So when Chihuly is gone I hope to find the gardens once again the perfect place for a peaceful evening stroll!
Read on about how the gardens is acquiring the piece:
A sculpture by artist Dale Chihuly will be permanently installed at the Denver Botanic Gardens next month, thanks to the generosity of some Denver philanthropists.
The new piece, which isn’t part of the Chihuly glass pieces now on display at the Gardens, is called “Colorado” and is made of about 700 handblown glass elements of red, orange and yellow, designed to be reminiscent of a Colorado sunset. “Colorado” is more than 11 feet tall.The sculpture will be installed in the Ellipse garden, and designed to withstand the weather.
The gift was announced Saturday. Chihuly was on hand for the announcement.
Robert and Judi Newman, the husband-and-wife who helped finance the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver, made the lead gift for the purchase of “Colorado.”
The RC Kemper Charitable Trust also contributed to the cost of purchasing the sculpture; the price tag wasn’t disclosed. The Kemper trust is connected to UMB Financial Corp., whose chairman and CEO, Mariner Kemper, lives in Denver.
The price of the piece was not disclosed.
The Chihuly exhibition at the Gardens, which opened June 14, already has helped pushed attendance at the botanic complex to 1.1 million for the year, setting a new annual record.
The exhibition closes Nov. 30.
Article Source: bizjournals.com