Kohl Center To Establish Itself As ‘Work of Art’

A special arts fund-raiser Jan. 17 will offer a “first-look” at UW–Madison alumnus Dale Chihuly’s new glass installation at the Kohl Center.

Chihuly, who graduated with a master of fine arts degree from Wisconsin in 1967, will be on hand for the unveiling. The champagne and dessert reception will begin at 8 p.m. in the Kohl Center’s main concourse. Tickets are $40 per person and are available by calling 262-3396. Proceeds will benefit the UW–Madison Arts Consortium’s Scholarship Fund. Deadline for making reservations is noon Friday, Jan. 9.

Chihuly says he intends “The Mendota Wall” to act as a welcome to the new facility. The work of art, commissioned by the Wisconsin Arts Board, is the artist’s largest to date and is comprised of more than 1,600 individually hand-blown glass pieces.

Other Chihuly works can be found in the permanent collections of the White House, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper-Hewitt National Museum of Design in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Japan’s National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto, and the Louvre. In addition, the Madison Art Center, Milwaukee Museum of Art and UW–Madison’s Elvehjem Museum of Art each have their own Chihuly pieces.