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Community Outreach–The Collaborative Chihuly

Milwaukee Art Museum

A close-up of the Kohl's Color Wheels Chihuly project.
A close-up of the Kohl’s Color Wheels Chihuly project.
As the Kohl’s Color Wheels Team Coordinator, I have the chance to bridge the gap between the Collection and the world outside the Museum walls. I am given the awesome task of working with area schools and art teachers to bring part of the Collection to them. I wanted to share this process through photos of a past event with Shady Lane Elementary.

The inspiration for the school art event was taken from Dale Chihuly’s amazing glass sculptures. His Isola di San Giacomo in Palude Chandelier II presides over the Museum’s Windhover Hall, and became the foundation for a collaborative project that we undertook at Shady Lane.

Dale Chihuly (American, b. 1941), Isola di San Giacomo in Palude Chandelier II, 2000. Blown glass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Suzy B. Ettinger in memory of Sanford J. Ettinger. © 2012, Dale Chihuly.

Inspiration + Materials + Travel + Collaboration = Instant Chihuly! Check out the photos below to see the process of this project.

Detail of Dale Chihuly (American, b. 1941), Isola di San Giacomo in Palude Chandelier II, 2000. Blown glass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Suzy B. Ettinger in memory of Sanford J. Ettinger. © 2012, Dale Chihuly.
Gathering materials: sharpies
Gathering materials: scissors
Gathering materials: kite thread
Gathering materials: empty water bottles (abundantly collected by the school!)
Packing up the Kohl’s Art Generation Color Wheels van.
En route.
Let the process begin! Get your water bottle…
…Color it with sharpies…
…And see the glass-like effect it creates.
The process continues: cut the bottles with scissors to create the curls of plastic, reminiscent of Chihuly’s blown glass.
Now your bottles are ready to add to the sculpture!
An instant Chihuly starts to take shape.
As more students add to the sculpture, it grows bigger and fuller until finally, the finished sculpture, made collaboratively, gives a similar, colorful effect to Chihuly’s original sculpture.
A close look reveals everyone’s hard work.

Find out more about Kohl’s Color Wheels here.

–Tim Abel, Kohl’s Color Wheels Team Coordinator. All photos in this post taken by the author.

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