Chihuly’s glass pieces have followed different themes throughout the past 30 years. He creates many variations of a theme that are inspired by items that he admires, such as Native American baskets, the sea or plant life.

Ikebana
After visiting Japan in 1990, Chihuly created a series of elongated stems and blossoms called Ikebana. The pieces are reminiscent of the stylized beauty of Japanese floral arrangements and the carved wood and gilt lotus blossoms that he admired on visits to Buddhist temples in Japan.

Macchia
Chihuly’s Macchia (pronounced mock’kia) are speckled with colors. Chihuly couldn’t think of what to call this series of works when he began it in 1981, so he called an artist friend, Italo Scanga, and asked what the Italian word for “spotted” (macchia) would be — hence the title. When you look at the Macchia, notice that the interiors and exteriors of the vessels are different colors. Each side is distinct because a layer of white, opaque glass separates them.

Anemone
Anemones are wall-mounted, tentacle-like clusters that appear to be animated, as if caught in the motion of waves. Chihuly often groups these sculptures in response to a specific environment.

Persian
This series’ title hints at associations with ancient glass styles and reflects the fusion of East and West. Historically, Venice has shown an assimilation of Persian, Byzantine and eastern ideas. When Chihuly worked at the Venini factory in Venice, he became aware of these historical ties and stylistic influences in Venetian art. Persians, with their gently fluted edges, are delicate yet powerful, and their jewel-like colors and sensuous curving forms make them some of Chihuly’s most glorious works.

Baskets
Chihuly started making Baskets at Pilchuck. He made single Baskets at first, but later began to group the individual elements into nested compositions.

Boats
Chihuly first filled boats with glass in Nuutajarvi, Finland, during 1995’s “Chihuly Over Venice” project. After several days of glassblowing, Chihuly and his team made temporary installations along the nearby Nuutajoki River. When the team found a partially submerged wooden rowboat, Chihuly filled it so that it was overflowing with glass.

Niijima Floats
On the tiny island of Niijima, Japan, Osamu and Yumiko Noda, former students at Pilchuck, created a glass school perched on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was there in 1991 that Chihuly started this series. Named for both the island and the traditional Japanese fishing floats, these pieces remind him of the ocean and its currents.

Spears
Chihuly made the first Spears in Finland in 1995. To make the Spears, one glassblower holds the gather of glass on the blowpipe, climbs into a mechanical lift, and blows into the glass while another person on the ground pulls it from below. Some are longer than 10 feet!

Putti
“Putti” is the Italian word for cherub, a specialty of Italian glass artist Pino Signoretto. In bringing Signoretto and renowned glass artisan Lino Tagliapietra to Pilchuck to work together, Chihuly created a design that Lino would blow, while Pino would affix the Putti. They put them together in installations such as the Museum’s “Putti with Birds” to show all the different ways that the Putti could look, sit and play.

Seaforms
The Seaforms series came about by accident, as much of Chihuly’s work does. The series happened by chance, while experimenting with some ribbed molds when he was working on baskets. When the ribbed baskets began to look more like forms in the sea, Chihuly changed the name of the series to Seaforms.