The Free Weekly/BEN GOFF @NWABENGOFF
“Fiori Boat” was the Dale Chihuly sculpture chose to join the permanent collection at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will add Dale Chihuly’s colorful “Fiori Boat” to its permanent collection, acquiring the work after it emerged as the winner of a public vote.
The piece is currently on display at the museum as part of its Chihuly: In the Forest “Chihuly: In the Forest” exhibition and was one of four works by the glass sculptor considered for an acquisition by the Bentonville museum. Instead of making the final decision on which piece to purchase, Crystal Bridges set up a contest to let visitors vote.
The 1,300-piece “Sole d’Oro,” the two-tiered “Azure Icicle Chandelier” and the “Niijima Floats” drifting in Crystal Pond were the other three works under consideration. Those installations will remain on display at the museum through the rest of the outdoor Chihuly exhibition’s run, which ends Nov. 13.
“Fiori Boat” — a wooden rowboat filled with 179 pieces of colorful glass forms — received 7,901 of the nearly 20,000 votes cast during the contest.
“The boat is a fantastic addition to our collection as a classic representation of Chihuly’s well-known installations,” Crystal Bridges curator Lauren Haynes said in a statement provided by the museum. “The bold colors and forms stretch the boundaries of glass and connect to its natural surroundings. The ‘Fiori Boat’ will stay in the forest through the exhibition, and then will be moved to a different location in the North Forest where it will join other artworks from the museum’s permanent collection.”
— Robbie Neiswanger
rneiswanger@nwadg.com
