Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, March 3, 2010
City / Visual Art Large Chihuly Museum Being Planned for Seattle Center
Posted by Jen Graves on Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 10:43 AM
- Chihuly at the Bellagio, Las Vegas
The center would be a major showplace for Chihuly's art, with 21,500 square feet of interior exhibition space plus a retail shop and cafe. (By comparison, the Henry Art Gallery has about 14,000 square feet of galleries, the Frye about 12,000 square feet.) Admission would be paid.
The plan (PDF with images) has already been approved by the city's Design Commission, which reviews all proposals for the use of public lands by private entities. Of Seattle Center's 17 acres, this structure—inhabiting and extending the current Fun Forest arcade pavilion—would occupy about 2 acres.
The proposal goes next to the Mayor's office for approval, and if it is approved, in front of City Council.
"The premier glass artist in the world wants to be a part of this project," Robert Nellams, director of Seattle Center, told the Design Commission. "This is a good thing."
But not everyone is enthusiastic.
City Council member Sally Bagshaw, also chair of Parks and Seattle Center Committee, says she has "real concerns" about the current plan.
"Seattle Center is always in that tension between having to pay for itself, because there's not much general fund money for it anymore, so the Wright family has offered to put in a Chihuly museum and to pay Seattle Center a goodly annual sum. Now, here's the problem for me," Bagshaw says. "The Seattle Center is 74 acres, and only 17 acres are left of public property that are open for people. The plan with the Chihuly museum would be to create undoubtedly a beautiful museum but people would have to pay to go in, and it would take up at least two acres of land.
"I took one look and said, 'If that's something you have to pay some money to go see, then that really isn't right,' because I want Seattle Center to be Seattle Central Park, where you can go even if you don't have money. And there are two problems: One, it's not open to the public, and secondly, if we have something that's going to be used for private gain, we need to have an RFP [Request for Proposal]—some kind of public process. They need money to run this place, and I really respect that, it's just, I've got another hand up, which is to take care of this public space. It would be a little bit like if we said to somebody that wanted to move up into Volunteer Park, here, take two acres, enjoy yourself, and that doesn't strike me as quite right without having the public engaged in it and saying, yeah, that's what we want."
Architect Dennis Forsyth led the team that, in over 60 public meetings spanning two years, created a new master plan for Seattle Center in 2008.
The Chihuly project runs counter to master plan, he says. The master plan calls for the Fun Forest Pavilion to be torn down in order to make more open, green space in the Center. (PDF with images, pages 21-22.)
Like Bagshaw, Forsyth wants to be realistic, and recognizes that Seattle Center needs money.
"But you should go to the master plan; you'll see why it's so counter," Forsyth says. "The movement's been, open up the center. It's a park for the city, and you ought to make it inviting for the city. There was a lot of community involvement, and I mean a lot of community involvement, and the consensus was to make it more green. We didn't take out many buildings, but this was one of them.
"I don't want to take a position yea or nay," he says, "but people should take a look at what they're doing, and it ought to be done with the same level of sensitivity the master plan was done with."
He also points out that the Fun Forest Pavilion was constructed shortly after the 1990 master plan was published—and it went against that plan, too. "After the 1990 plan, the first thing they did was plop in a building that was not appropriate: and it was that building," he says.
Norie Sato is the only artist on the Design Commission. When the project came in front of the commission in January, she cast the lone vote against it. She wants to support the arts in the center, but doesn't believe this is the best way.
"I just didn't know whether, if you were going to set up a center like this, whether devoting it to a single artist was adequate—civic enough as an opportunity," Sato says. "My other concern was the way Chihuly was thinking about it was, it just wasn't a big enough idea. It was just sort of the attitude, 'I'm just going to put all my stuff in here.' I just didn't think the whole thing had been thought through well enough, really. If we're talking about taking public space away, I kind of think we have a responsibility to make it something that isn't just okay or adequate.
"It's going to be the biggest display of Chihuly, I think, anywhere in the world," she says. "It's a really big deal. I think it's a big change for the Center, and it may be good for the Center. I just, I'm a little skeptical. I try to be supportive because I think that anything that brings more culture in is a good thing, but we want to make sure it's accessible—and worth turning away public space for."
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Leaving aside the use questions raised, how about the simple fact that Chihuly art is PURE SHIT, not "culture", and taking away something fun for families and devoting it to a celebration of the worst art this side of Thomas Kinkade (tm) is a bad idea on the face of it?
Reminds me of the Hollywood "Planet Hollywood." The Hollywood Blvd MacDonald's has an impressive collection of memorabilia so what need does this serve for the surrounding community?
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It's a million to one this is anything more than a gussied-up tax dodge by the Wrights, at considerable cost to the Seattle Center's open space and public purpose.
I'm not 100% with you on Chihuly being worthless but someone's memorizing a press release...
"The premier glass artist in the world wants to be a part of this project," Funny that you don't find Chihuly being collected much by institutions outside the Western U.S. And Steve Wynn is blind as a bat so he can be forgiven.
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Then reality set in and I was all, "meh"
@6 you mean "I wish he would have his assistants do something more original"
I don't really understand the draw, I think spirally glass things are neat and all but I think I've seen plenty of them now.
I guess it is fun for Tacoma to have something not negative to claim as their own.
Bagshaw's call to stick with the master plan for Seattle Center and increase the available free public green space is excellent and rare in this town. Too many of our public officials are readily distracted by "new and exciting" (by which I mean "inane and frivolous") projects that fritter away limited resources.
In addition, the idea of a museum dedicated to a still living craftsman is ridiculous, particularly a self-promoting egotist like Chihuly. I personally don't think his mass-produced kitsch rises to the level of art, but maybe that's just me.
The Wright family has done a lot for Seattle's cultural scene, but I don't like the idea of individuals being able to take over public space for their own pet projects. Does anyone else see this developing into a fiasco like Paul Allen's (TM) Total Experience Music Project/err, wait now it's a Science Fiction Museum tourist trap?
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A Chihuly museum on public land? No way.
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Fuck Dale Chihuly! He's not an artist anymore. He is CEO of a kitch factory!
In the words of Aldo Leopold: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."
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Now, I know you all think we should have a museum to 'social justice' with a special interactive bum wing, but you know what? that will do nothing for the economy.
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How about building this museum across 5th Ave., south of the new Gates Foundation campus. That area seems ripe for redevelopment and it isn't considered a park by anyone. It's just as convenient a location to get to. You could even program the area as an "extension" of the Center and then put some open space where the Fun Forest :( used to be. Seems like a win-win.
How can this not be obvious to the folks doing all this planning?
The two blocks that make the most sense for the museum are along 5th Ave. between Denny and Thomas. It would be cinematic. It would be awesome. You would fly by what would have to be an interesting-looking museum on the monorail, seeing the art glass through its windows at 30 mph, which is probably the optimal speed for the Slog posters above who would probably really prefer to see Chihuly's work hung from the Viaduct... as it's torn down...
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The premier glass cartoonist in the world, maybe.
Preston Singletary, a true glass artist is featured at the Museum of Glass right now. You should check it him out.
Now, it is a common trend for companies as the Russell Company and others to move to Seattle for broader and successful outcomes. Even people are moving out to Seattle and Eastside for profitable incomes. Soon, there will be closures or pauses of improving the waterfront and revitalized areas. Businesses and citizens are already struggling enough as it is. There will less people to pull in money for Tacoma. Unfortunately, I may migrate to another city for greater good in my own income,. Resources will be depleted and less people to appreciate the historic preservation, arts, history, and the beautiful waterfront.
The proposed Chihuly museum at Seattle Center will discourage tourists to visit Tacoma since they already spent their incomes in Seattle. There would be no valid reason or point of going to Tacoma; it would not matter whether Dale Chihuly was born in the City of Destiny. I'm truly worrisome and disturbed by the idea of Seattle taking away one of the viable parts of Tacoma. I wish at times Seattle would think about the effects on their sister cities for the ambitions of gaining a spot on the national and international scene and profitable margins.
I wish a couple major companies will take acreages in our downtown and transforms the cityscape for the key development and sustain true preservation of a city which was originally the destination point of the railroad. Tacoma has true potential and room for top success.
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