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Chihuly addition raises status

The Dali-Chihuly museum combination will make the city an art hub in the region, experts say.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published October 12, 2006

Together with a new home for Salvador Dali’s artwork, a museum of Dale Chihuly’s renowned glass works would recast St. Petersburg as one of the Southeast’s pre-eminent arts cities, several art experts said Thursday.

A day after it was revealed that Chihuly’s only U.S. museum would be built in St. Petersburg, the arts community began to dissect how significant the marriage could be.

The rebuilt Dali and the 11,000-square-foot Chihuly together could draw more than 400,000 visitors a year, rivaling Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, museum officials say.

And the names Chihuly and Dali would inject an instant cachet to the city and area’s arts offerings.

“They are both outrageous, and spectacular, in their own ways,” said Shane Fero, a North Carolina glass artist and president of the Glass Art Society.

“There’s nothing surreal about Dale’s work, but I think it’s so grandiose, it does kind of lend itself to Dali.”

Like the Dali, Chihuly’s museum will be unique, showcasing an evolution of the master glass artist’s work, from Venetian boats to a monumental glass tower. It will become the largest permanent collection in the United States, officials say.

“Chihuly is going to draw the eyes of the world,” said Terry Brett, the incoming chairman of the Arts Center, the nonprofit organization partnering with a local developer to build and manage the museum.

The museum, which would be built around a $2-million glass-blowing studio and viewing auditorium, will open in early 2009, officials say.

The Chihuly and the rebuilt $30-million Dali museum could both be open before Tampa’s 2009 Super Bowl.

The museums will add to an already impressive set of arts offerings in St. Petersburg.

The Florida Orchestra will build its headquarters in the city, and the Museum of Fine Arts plans to expand along the downtown waterfront.

The well-regarded Savannah College of Art and Design may open a branch campus in St. Petersburg, and the renovated Mahaffey Theater is opening its first full season.

The momentum is in stark contrast to Tampa, where city officials have struggled for years to rebuild the art museum.

“I would call our cultural renaissance in the city to be self propelling at this point,” St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said.

The Chihuly museum would be part of a 133,000-square-foot arts facility and tied to two 31-story condominium towers at Central Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

The developer of that project, Jimmy Aviram, and local philanthropist Beth Ann Morean agreed to donate the $6-million Chihuly collection Thursday.

“Art has been a part of my entire life,” Morean said. “I want it to be a part of everyone’s life.”

Aviram and Chihuly have been friends for almost 30 years, a bond that really made the museum possible. “This is a legacy for the community,” Aviram said.

In the art world, Chihuly — big hair, puffy shirts and all — is a rock star.

When he spent 10 days this August working in a Tacoma glass museum he helped found, attendance doubled nearly every day.

When his collection came to the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg two years ago, it broke every attendance record. Reportedly, he is the highest-paid living artist in the world.

“People simply cannot get enough of his work,” said Julie Pisto, director of communications for Tacoma’s Museum of Glass.

The combination of the collections of two flamboyant artists’ collections should create a synergy that becomes a tourist boon for St. Petersburg, Pisto said.

Dali and Chihuly together “will draw people,” Pisto said. “There could be huge economic benefit — it won’t just be the arts patrons who will be happy, the business community will be smiling too.”

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at asharockman@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2273.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 23:55:12]