FORT COLLINS, CO.- Chihuly Venetians: From the George R. Stroemple Collection opened at the Fort Collins Museum of Art on Wednesday, December 14, 2011. It will be on view until March 18, 2012. This exhibition marks the re-opening of the museum that has been closed since September 28th due to significant water damage created by HVAC failures at the museum’s 100 year-old National Historic Register facility in Old Town Fort Collins.

Chihuly Venetians showcases over 45 works from Chihuly’s most innovative and unusual series that was inspired by Art Deco Venetian art glass from the 1920’s and 1930’s. The Venetians are characterized by their voluptuousness and sensuousness as well as their rich color combinations and idiosyncratic forms. The series came about after Chihuly visited Venice during the winter of 1987-88 and saw a private collection of Venetian Art Deco vases. Chihuly described his reaction: “They were very odd, with garish colors. Most were classical shapes with beautiful handles and other unusual additions. I started thinking about Lino’s [Lino Tagliapietra, one of Chihuly’s Italian glass blowers] visit…and I thought I would design some pieces similar to these, in the spirit of the period…..The series started a drastic change from rather refined classical shapes to very bizarre pieces: handles changed to knots, prunts became claws, colors went from subtle to bright, big leaves and feathers appeared.”

The highlight of the exhibition is the now-famous Laguna Murano Chandelier that has over 1500 separate pieces of glass that make up five separate elements: two elements hang from the ceiling and three rise from the floor. A specially-trained crew affiliated with Chihuly Studios will travel from Seattle to install the chandelier during the week of December 5th. The exhibition will also feature a number of Bottle Stoppers and Putti and Piccolo Venetian glass vases. Also on view will be a number of original drawings by Chihuly related to the Venetians.

“This is the first time this body of work by the world’s most important glass artist has ever been shown in the region, and we are most proud and pleased to present these outstanding objects to the community.” said FCMOA executive director, Marianne Lorenz. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement.

Chihuly was one of the earliest and most successful proponents of that movement and his contributions to the development of American studio glass are enormous. It is estimated that over the past decade, over 10 million people have visited a Chihuly exhibition somewhere in the world. FCMOA is planning a special two day celebration, “A Weekend of Fire: A Celebration of the American Studio Glass Movement” on March 10-11, 2012. That celebration will feature glass making demonstrations, lectures, tours and children’s activities.

Also on view an exhibition highlighting five private Colorado glass collections in honor of the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement. Those collections will feature a broad range of artists and works from the past 50 years. Early glass pioneers such as Harvey Littleton, Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, Tom Patti and John Kuhn will be exhibited along with more recent works by Dan Clayman and Preston Singletary.

“FCMOA is most proud to feature works by American studio glass artists from these five outstanding private collections during the 50th anniversary of the American Studio Glass Movement,” Lorenz noted, “The generosity of these Coloradoans in sharing works from their collections with the community is tremendous. We are most grateful.”