Glass Boat - Grand Rapids, MI

In 1968, after receiving a Fulbright Fellowship, Dale Chihuly went to work at the Venini glass factory in Venice. There he observed the team approach to blowing glass, which is critical to the way he works today.

In 1971, Chihuly cofounded Pilchuck Glass School in Washington State. With this international glass center, Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art.

Chihuly first filled boats with glass in Nuutajärvi, Finland, during the Chihuly Over Venice project in 1995. After several days of glassblowing, Chihuly and the team made temporary installations along the Nuutajoki, the river nearby. He often tossed glass into the river, letting it float downstream. Local kids in small wooden rowboats gathered them, and it was probably then that Chihuly saw the opportunity for a new type of installation.

When the team found a partially submerged wooden rowboat, which was hauled out and emptied of mud and debris, Chihuly filled it to overflowing with glass. He has continued to revisit the "Boat" idea ever since.