Great glass display at new school expansion

15:10:20 10th October 2008

The £15 million expansion of the Rhode Island School of Design has been completed, with its main exhibition featuring the work of renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly.

The exhibit opened on September 27th and sees Chihuly's work fill the new Chace Centre exhibition space.

The artist, who is famed as much for his trademark eye patch as his work with glass, graduated from the schools with a masters degree in ceramics and spent 20 years studying and teaching there.

His exhibition includes a work called 'Mille Fiore' (thousand flowers in Italian), which features a huge chandelier from which snakelike glass forms spiral down up to 2.4 metres, almost touching the black plexiglass floor.

Speaking of the length of time it took to have his work exhibited at his beloved school, Chihuly said he wasn't bothered at having to wait.

"I'm kind of glad, actually, that it took this long," he said, according to the Canadian Press.

"I can only do a show that's as good as the space."

Glass work is becoming a feature of the 21st century, with artists, architects and home-owners all looking to the material's versatility to create their own masterpieces.