Venice Under Glass -- Washington Artist Dale Chihuly Adds Splendor To A Splendid City

VENICE, Italy - In a private garden looking out onto the Grand Canal, Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, was raving about Dale Chihuly's work. She talked about its beauty, how it seemed to glow from within, how she had come to Venice just to see it.

Richards was one of 300 or so mostly American art collectors, art dealers, artists and Chihuly admirers invited to the elegant affair, which was thrown Friday evening by George Russell, chairman of the Frank Russell Co. of Tacoma, and his wife, Jane.

But though Richards was one of the guests of higher profile at the by-invitation-only event, the centerpiece of the affair was a dramatically lit red chandelier rising like a fountain out of the middle of the formal, 17th-century garden. As lavender wafted through the evening air and boats passed back and forth along the canal, it was impossible not to admire the chandelier, which Chihuly's crew had assembled only hours before.

The red chandelier in the private garden - of an Italian contessa who also admires Chihuly's work - was one of the more eye-catching of the 13 chandeliers that the Washington artist put up last week as part of his "Chihuly Over Venice" exhibition. But it was by no means the only one that dazzled.

At night especially, lit by theatrical lighting designed by his team, many of the chandeliers were extraordinary. Like much of Chihuly's work, they were extravagant, flamboyant and beautiful.

The chandeliers have little to do with cutting-edge or avant-garde art, and likely will never get Chihuly into the trendiest art magazines or art exhibitions. But they will probably make plenty of museum visitors happy.

Chihuly didn't take over Venice - it would be hard to imagine the artwork that could. But his chandeliers did, at least for a week, tweak the aesthetics of this magical city and, by creating their own splendour, make the city even more splendid.

When "Chihuly Over Venice" ends later this month, the chandeliers that were strung around the city like extravagant Christmas lights will be disassembled, packed up and sent directly to Kansas City, Mo., where the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art will open an exhibit in mid-December.

And if the show pulls in the kinds of high-volume crowds that have packed other small and mid-sized museums to see Chihuly's current traveling exhibition, the Venetian chandeliers may be on the road a long, long time.

No matter what some highbrow critics or avant-garde publications say, Chihuly is a crowd pleaser and a moneymaking gold mine for museums at a time when they find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Chihuly's shows also make money for him. His current traveling museum show helps pay the bills for other ventures, including "Chihuly Over Venice," by bringing in money from entry fees and the collateral sales of books and cards.

The installation that Chihuly organized at the Seattle Art Museum in 1992 has been on the road ever since. (By attendance count, it still is the most popular exhibition the downtown museum has ever mounted.)

Essentially a 30-year retrospective that becomes a fantasy land of dazzling color wherever it is installed, the show has wowed crowds at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, where in two months it accounted for 32 percent of the museum's annual attendance; at the Santa Barbara, Calif., Museum of Art, where in three months it drew 64 percent of annual attendance that year; and at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where in two months it drew 40 percent of the year's annual attendance.

The show is booked through January 1998 in museums including the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y.

Some museums have charged extra to see the show. Some, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, have extended hours to accommodate overflow crowds.

"The popular response to the St. Louis show has been overwhelming," said Henry Adams, director of the Kemper Museum in Kansas City, where the Venice pieces will be shown. "Dale's work does seem to cut across the spectrum as to who it appeals to . . . We're certainly hoping the show will produce about half of our annual attendance, and we've already had expressions of interest from other museums."

At the San Jose, Calif., Museum of Art, director Josi Callan said people came back two or three times to see the retrospective.

"It's very accessible, and the installation by Chihuly's team was exquisite," Callan said. "It didn't matter whether you were 5 years old or 95 years old, you found something in it. People just walked in and it was like another world."

The $70,000 exhibition fee that Chihuly Inc. charges for the show is a typical fee for an exhibition of its size, and it's peanuts compared to the $1 million to several million dollars charged for blockbusters such asthe recent Cezanne show in Philadelphia. Additional costs, including shipping, gallery modification and insurance, likely add about $20,000 more for museums that rent the show.

Still, the museums make money. Museum shop sales often soar on the sale of Chihuly books and cards. Callan said the San Jose Museum of Art shop reported $93,000 worth of sales during the Chihuly show, which she described as "very, very good." The Anchorage, Alaska, Museum of Art made $30,000 after expenses on the show.

Memberships also tend to bounce upward after Chihuly comes to town. At the Baltimore Museum of Art, a membership drive centered on the show brought in 800 new memberships.

As a result of the retrospective, San Jose collectors and museum members became so smitten with glass art and Chihuly that the museum organized a trip to Venice for more than two dozen people for last week's glass art festivities.

"With Dale, it's showtime," said Callan. "That's what it's all about."