Tacoma Art Museum

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage The Tacoma Art Museum holds the consummate public collection of works by glass artist Dale Chihuly. Donated by the artist over a period of many years, the collection features 69 works dating from 1977 to the present, spanning the career of this influential, world-renowned artist. It has been called "the most significant didactic collection of seminal pieces." For this project, the museum will collaborate with Chihuly and Chihuly Studio on a creative effort to research and archivally document the collection, including an oral history from the artist himself. Once the material is captured, it will form the basis for a variety of research and learning tools, including an audio guide to the collection. The collection's historic significance is matched by its broad-based appeal-of the 100,000 annual visitors to the Tacoma Art Museum, 35 percent of adult tours and 25 percent of schools tours specifically ask to focus on the Chihuly collection. The applications resulting from this important documentation will become invaluable tools for museum visitors, staff, students, researchers, and teachers, preserving a vital ingredient of this region's and the nation's cultural heritage.