New explosions of shape and color are coming to the Missouri Botanical Garden, but they won’t be growing from the earth. Instead, they’ve been carefully formed and installed for Chihuly in the Garden 2023, which the garden is calling its “most ambitious exhibition to date.”
From May 2–October 15, the work of renowned American artist Dale Chihuly will highlight spaces throughout the gardens using thousands of pieces of blown glass, with forms that run the gamut from massive sunbursts to tubes that look almost fungal. But the real magic will happen in the evening, when the works are transformed for Chihuly Nights. On Thursdays through Sundays May 13–August 27, the works will be illuminated for a kind of summertime Garden Glow. Forms that are striking by day seem almost otherworldly when they emerge as colorful lights in the darkness, creating a whole new way to experience the exhibition.
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“The power of light has always fascinated me—how the light changes throughout the day and into dusk,” says Chihuly. “I love to see how my work changes with the light. After dark, the landscape disappears, and the experience with the artwork is completely new.”
Tickets are already on sale for the nighttime events, which will also include live music, cocktails, and vendor pop-ups. Advance tickets are recommended, as the garden expects sellouts throughout the summer.
Chihuly says he’s inspired by the vistas and bodies of water throughout the Missouri Botanical Garden; he first collaborated with the institution back in 2006. The work in this year’s exhibition has been curated specifically for the garden and features installations from across the artist’s career, including “Summer Sun,” “Towers,” “Fiori,” a new neon composition, and drawings.
While Chihuly acknowledges that there are logistical complexities that come with exhibiting his works in an ever-changing natural landscape, he perceives them “more as opportunities than challenges.” The changing seasons and colors around the work influence his designs so that, hopefully, they fit the environment even as it shifts. Visitors to the garden will have nearly six months to experience the work and see for themselves how nature interacts with Chihuly’s installations.
“[The Missouri Botanical Garden] has created a wonderful environment for lovers of both gardens and art,” says Chihuly. “I love placing my work in outdoor settings and hope that visitors have a new experience through this presentation of art and nature in this beautiful environment.”
Who’s Chihuly?
Get to know the groundbreaking glass artist.
Dale Chihuly is a Washington state–based glass artist and entrepreneur who has been active since the 1960s. The prolific 81-year-old has been credited with shifting glass-blowing into a vehicle for large-scale and environmental art. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Chihuly experienced glassblowing mastery firsthand at various universities and studios, and he developed his own style while establishing multiple arts programs in his native Pacific Northwest. After a shoulder injury in 1979 left him unable to personally blow glass pieces, Chihuly took a step back into a role that he told one Seattle reporter was “more choreographer than dancer.” His studio has since produced dozens of series inspired by historic glass, nature, Native American art, and other subjects. His work has been exhibited at dozens of museums, galleries, and botanical gardens, including at the Missouri Botanical Garden in 2006. In addition to Chihuly in the Garden 2023, the artist has a current exhibition, Chihuly Then and Now: The Collection at Twenty, at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
