Back in December, 2007, Seattle Center announced its Fun Forest would close. Sixteen months later, Jeff Wright of the Howard S. Wright family revealed a plan for a Chihuly center near the Space Needle, funded by Wright with an initial outlay of $15 to $20 million.
How many other proposals were on the table?
None. There are eight others now, some of them excellent. None come with their own funding, which Jen Graves says is a question of timing, as the others didn’t have a “year to hone their proposal.”
This is, of course, untrue. Everybody had the same time, from late 2007. The prospect of cracked asphalt and weedy abandon was increasingly obvious to all, given the economy and the necessity of budget cuts. (More on those cuts here.) The Fun Forest was over. Given the fact that the city is struggling to mow its lawns and keep fresh water in its wading pools, what could have led anyone to suspect that the city could replace a former money-maker with a money drain?
Wednesday night, there’s a public meeting at Seattle Center’s Center House. Architects of all proposals will make their pitches from 4:30 to 6 p.m., followed by open comment.
I’ve already commented on the Chihuly plan, here and here. I’ll leave it at that, except to say the original proposal now includes additions. Wright plans to put up $1 million for the creation of artist-designed playground equipment, including fabrication and development of the site, as well as development of additional green/open space. The Chihuly team has also come up with a program to partner with Seattle Public Schools, Pilchuck Glass School, Pratt Fine Arts Center and the ArtsFund.
Team Chihuly is asking for a 5-year-lease. If the results fail to dazzle the public (and bring in from $300,000 to $500,000 annually to city coffers), its plug can be pulled, leaving the building that’s already there and a garden. (Even if he’s a raging success, the lease will terminate at 20 years.)
I’d like to see the Chihuly approved, partly because I’d also like to see one or even two of the other proposals given a chance as well. When museums sell art from their collections, best practices encourage them to use those funds to collect more art. If the city is taking in $300,000 to $500,000 from Chihuly’s project, why can’t a hefty share of that money be used to underwrite other uses of the former Fun Forest?
I’d give the nod to Open Platform and/or the Northwest Native Culture Center. The Fun Forest was 5 acres. The Chihuly center will be 1.5 acres. Math
is not my strong suit, but I believe that leaves 3.5 acres for other
uses. Think as well as, not instead of.
It would be a great pity if Chihuly’s proposal was not accepted. Does not make any sense to me that you even consider other offers. Although I do not actually live in America, I know whose work I would prefer to see when I visit.
You’ve come a long way, babe, since you wrote “Dale Chihuly and the anti-art teabaggers.” You’re at least willing to concede that other people besides Chihuly Inc might have good ideas for Seattle Center. With this more reasonable tone, you sold me. I can see Chihuly as a funding source for other projects.
Call me contrary, you wont be the first-
but I think you have Powhida and Chihuly mixed up.
One of them is indeed a callow huckster with no clothes on, and the other one is helping to raise a few boats- but you seem to have some confusion as to which is which…
Powhida Pavillion- it does have a nice ring to it, doesnt it?
Hello Ries, you rural lounge lizard you. Wrong again. William Powhida is a flea in Chihuly’s ear. Powhida can draw, but can he think? He picks easy targets and misses them. For every great piece of his, there are hordes of snarky soldiers putting in their time on his page. Chihuly is art historical. I know this wounds you, but it’s true. He moved the decorative into the mainstream. What has Powhida done? He attacks too many artists for me to get behind him. Dash Snow? Nothing but heart there. The day William Powhida does a piece as good as Snow’s JFK collage, I’ll eat my words. Letter by letter. Regina
Glass craft is a global craft..from europe to Asia…and every other country in the world.
I still believe that the “chihuly proposal” will be a failure in years to come.I think that he’s a great master blowing glass form,but he is not picasso or Michaelangelo.
Chihuly is art historical?
He moved the decorative into the mainstream?
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
Whatever gave you that idea?
Mainstream, what mainstream? Are they selling Chihuly knockoff in Walmart now?
He may be big is Seattle but he isn’t anywhere else.
Chihuly is indeed a shallow, and callow huckster.
Give the others a chance!
lounge lizard
n. Slang
1. A generally idle man who haunts establishments or gatherings frequented by the rich or fashionable; a social parasite.
2. A habitué of cocktail lounges.
I wish.
Hmm- I guess there is a reason you are a critic, and not an artist.
Chihuly does not in any way “wound” me- he makes me smile, especially the part about fed exing a brand new handmade silk shirt everyday when he travels- but art history? Cmon- you mean BUSINESS HISTORY.
And Dash Snow?
He has made his mark, indeed- now Miles thinks its “artistic” to jack off on his piece on the TV show…
You pick your horses, I will pick mine.
The great thing about art is, contrary to what you think, there is no “wrong” and “right” opinions- there is only yours, and mine, and, if neither of those satisfies, there are six billion more out there to choose from.
Greetings Committee: I’ve known Mr. C since we were art students together and seen his rise to fame. He already has enough international and national acclaim to have enough. Why claim prime property in the public Seattle Center for another shop? The Seattle Center houses international attractions such as the Pacific Science Center, Opera, Seattle International Film Festival as attracting families worldwide who would appreciate either an open space in that abandoned area or an instructive about Northwest Culture; how about hiring a Native American team to constuct some works there such as dwellings, canoes, etc. and give the children a place to play without the noise.
Ries. Regina never said you weren’t entitled to your own wrong opinion. Hope this helps. You do know what Regina means, don’t you? PAX. Rules the waves. Waves from carriages. Likes corgies.
Ok, does it feel like a little bit of a vanity project? Sure.
Does Chihuly’s work sometimes cross that line into overly produced, assistant produced product? Sure.
His large scale pieces are really impressive, you have to admit.
Would I rather see yet another shopping area there?
No.
Does it give a nice nod to the glass artist culture in the city.
Yes.
What kind of a mother would name their kid “ProChihuly”?
I guess I just dont understand what the words “wrong again” mean, huh?
Anyway, I am curious, “Pro”, and others- please name a single Chiluly artwork that you consider a masterpiece. Or even one that is a great work of art that deserves to be pictured in the next version of Janson.
Cause I have seen a lot of em, and they are all middling examples of production craft, from my viewpoint. And, having worked in the production craft world, proudly, for over 15 years, I have seen a LOT of production craft.
There are, without doubt, Glass ARTISTS out there- Therman Statom, Richard Marquis, Larry Bell, Josiah McEleney, William Morris, Mario Mertz, Lucas Samaras, and lots more artists making sculptures from glass.
And there are quite a few excellent, unrepentent craftsmen and women who make objects of utility and beauty from glass.
A good two or three dozen of whom I would rank well above Chihuly in the “importance” scale, when it comes to glass art.
Dont get me wrong- I, like everyone else, wore that Chihuly oil in the sixties- I still like the smell.
But aside from his big assemblage pieces, not a single one of his works had any character, or soul, or presence, to lift it from run of the mill production glassblowing, and to counteract its failings, it falls back on the old crutch of the essential beauty of the medium.
The big groupings work, I suppose, in a classic Morris Lapidus, More is More kind of way, but compared to other artists who overwhelm with volume, like Tony Cragg or Armand, they lack all the cultural signifiers, history, meaning, and layers of information that make a good Cragg or Armand hold up.
As they say in Texas- All hat, no cows.