Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem 2000

What is it about the life in Jerusalem you know the city of light and you can't explain exactly what it is. It's a feeling. So look it has it it has this beautiful golden light that bathes Jerusalem for materials that I work with I work with glass. Plastic water. And ice. Those are the four great and transparent materials really the only transparent materials of any scale when you're looking at glass plastic ice or water. You're looking at the light itself. The light is coming through and you see that color that cobalt blue that ruby red. Whatever the color might be you're looking at the light in the color mixed together something magical and mystical something. That we don't understand nor do we even care to understand it's sort of like trying to understand the moon. You know it has magical powers. Water. Has

magical powers and so it is plastic. And so it is ice. Want. To. Stand by. What. I like. Dale hooly is one of today's most recognized artist based in Seattle. He creates and installs large scale works of glass all over the world. He thrives on pushing his team and his art to the edge of what is possible. Oh no problem talking to us. Wow.

All these current project takes him to Israel. Part of the world where many scholars believe glassblowing was invented. Jehiel he has roots here as well. He worked on a kibbutz in 1962 an experience that changed his life. So the film that I turned from a boy to a young man during this experience I really. Made something click you know from that point on. I wanted to. Do something this extraordinary Citadel. It was always occupied by some Army or culture that they conquered Jerusalem and so it was always a fortress. And after the 1967 war Israel made it into the tower of David Museum which is to show the history of Jerusalem. And I walk in under the rotunda out on the first balcony and look out at this extraordinary expanse of stone and arches and towers and and an archaeological digs ramparts and minarets. You know what an

incredible you know the bomb the ration of 3000 years of history that you're looking at you sense that history you feel that history you know makes you want to wander through and wander into the past. I just want to remind you that this is this is a cause that nobody can even give to the one right. I mean we can't it's close. So in this one we can easily find those people that when you. Grew up I think in his mind that the best place to celebrate the millennium would be to use a name. And of course the Citadel in the year 2000. So do you have any idea. Of. Using this material the glass. That actually was found in this part of the world. The expert said that the first blowing glass was done here maybe in the city and was built from here to go to you. And bring. He's kind of making the last week Jesus. Challenging is making

glass could go to and begin bring it back to where it belongs where it all started and we started to work on a. That wouldn't be started. None of us. Knew where it would be in the end. Now we're looking at that arch. Then of course there is that flat area right in there that's interesting. No one contrasting thing about the council is you have all these catwalks and walkways. You know you can see low you can see it from up high and you can walk around it. The lights come in in this way. Then the lights coming across. I mean the world for us could be look at other black. Oh that could be that there wasn't. Every time I look at the site there was something else I wanted to do. These pieces get bigger pieces got taller position got wider. The next thing I knew it was it was 14 installations at one as high as forty six feet high.

You know originally I went to Jerusalem in 1962 and worked on a kibbutz. And when I went back after 35 years it made me want to do a series sort of using stone as a symbol for the Jerusalem project. You. Guys are drifting on your blog but. I don't know it's pretty good to get out over there and see what it looks like. What it caused. I don't mind the idea of one being inside. No no no Chunkin side is not. Right there right on the left.

I happen to have been following. Gravity. You know we've got a great glass pointing. It was headed up by Jim Gray and that make these and they turned out so much better than I thought they would. I was so. Thrilled. More. Like right there. Yeah. Good.

Morning. Let's. Get the torches. So here you know there's something new that comes from this project but I've never done those cylinders. That had come over here to Israel Jerusalem to do this project. So in the citadel I really wanted to take you know glass to his glorious height you know really make something special work with the

glass you know really spoke to the audience. I was overwhelmed really could I really could I. Could I. Take on the citadel that I really put pieces in that could hold her own in this extra structure. Now.

I. Went over 30 days ahead of time with a team of 40 people. From my studio. And we worked hand in hand with one hundred Israelis Arabs and Jews to mount this excavation. It was a monumental task to put everything up in 30 days. And I send a crew over. A month before that. In order to build a lot of steel armatures and structures working with the Israeli engineers and metalsmiths. In very daring in the way they put this together for us. And the way they work with us we brought in over 47 tons of material we brought in 10000 pieces of glass glass from seven different countries. It was 12 shipping containers with over eleven hundred boxes working on that scale is not something at this museum anything in the world is going to do. John. Let's just keep it about a little bit more than shoulder. So bring this in just a little bit more so we have more room.

We got quite a bit of stuff to line up here. That's good. It's the communication is where we are. We run into the biggest problem the people here are friendly. They want to help but they don't always understand what it is we're trying to get the confidence. And once we have a mutual understanding that we're able to make things work. And that's what we've been doing. And successful. I begin to figure out where things would go. You know the red spheres were a big problem I had anticipated them going up on the towers. Go ahead and take that one Noel and shove it in with spears somewhere. But when we put them up there they were too far away when you came in. You couldn't see him very well and I didn't like that. We just got to where they want to do what they are just putting them up to see what they look like. All right.

Set it up take it down take it down. That's the only way for that look like. They can Fenland their water region and beyond. There were Spears taken Drewes the spears. Necessarily worry about pulling it out but sick leave it there. It's not going to turn this. Ship will be one the next will be nothing but Gumble. They don't have to work all the time. Any time. They. Want to get it down so you just watch enough for. And that what not gone is the hardest part. OK. Oh. God. Oh. No. I like him in piles. I always have. And we put a.

Pipe across the arch. And then lean all the spears against. I. Would use these pieces before and installations but never. In this configuration where there's. Three or four hundred Spears in about a 20 foot long tunnel. So the sun comes up over the castle wall in the morning and penetrates that red color only the sun bright sun can really get through this red because these are fairly they're almost opaque. But with this Israeli sun it really. Does transmit through the red. And. They all had worked with what I understand is the last man

in Japan hand blowing floats for four Japanese fishing nets. I. Would guess. Make it about. One. Minute. Each. One. And. That means. Now. An hour. But not. About. A. Day. And there's an installation over there and the old cistern in an adjacent area it's composed of those floats and they're you know very Jerusalem like colors the blue the faint blue the Greens the embers.

Will have to send a snapshot the glass for. The Citadel has to float instillations one by the master Japanese glassblower and I did another installation of the nigrum floats a series that I've been working with for over 10 years that are very colorful you know. And they're also the largest pieces that we make. Make.

It. Say I thought we could get a big one back here. And then one right. Right there. And then you know we can do you know a smaller one. You know. Right up. Here at. Some point we see. I've. Always loved these floats. You know they're just so big so colorful. You just can't help with confront them. Someone was to come along. You know they're down inside this village. It's always walls. Around. It. I mean it just blew. Never met a color I didn't like. I don't really like sun all that much. I mean I'm a Seattle light and I like the rain and I know we're inside most of the time so I don't like a lot of

something out there we still want to go outside. So I go over to Jerusalem and burning blazing desert sun. I'm telling you it was rough. I mean it was that look. At the combat load. You know they're up there well in the neck. You get up at 3:00 in the morning to try to get some you know get out of that heat. That's amazing to do this. It's come from one sketch to something real. That's really big because on paper it's only 8 inches tall not 45 feet tall. But that's the challenge to do it in a way that doesn't hurt anything or people. And to make it what Dale wants the Blue Tower. That's quite an impressive steel structure inside it. And it's about 45 or 50 feet high. It was a team effort.

Between Israelis and between the team from my studio. Shop. Perfect. Perfect. Excavation here. And then down with them. Up the middle. Forty six feet high. And then what do we do. They're loaded with 10000 hearts. There's like a catalyst. He starts a creative process. That process is picked up. By a variety of people depending on whether it goes to glass floors or whether it comes through whether it goes to the architects or whatever.

And then there's this constant sort of passing on. And as a pastime it begins to to achieve sort of a critical. Creative mass you know. And then the ball sort of gets passed back. To Dale and you sort of examines this creative math you know. And. Either throws it out or more likes what he sees or adds something to or adds to it. At 47 feet the Blue Tower is the tallest peaks in the exhibition but not the. It would be dwarfed by the crystal.

Now who are these most ambitious installations. We didn't really know what the Crystal Mountain would look like and. That's a very unusual. Departure for me to do something in this class like this because normally I work with blown glass and that's. Cast. What I call Pawley vitro which is really a type of plastic I've been developing. What. We figured out since yesterday anything this is a topic for a hot discussion you guys ought to be on it should have been on it at 7:00 this morning. I mean it's so critical. He's at a standstill until we figure this out. And we need the best brains we have to figure this out. The more brains we got work out the more I'm going to be able to make a decision. So the piece of drawing paper here at all times if we could get a board

on here and a pad. This thing has to have a top I'm worried about how it's going to end. And I did think about using polls that paper can have just one of the polls pick up. Hey what is the one up the middle. What if there was one element that came straight up the middle. And then everything else you know went towards that. You know that would be another way to end. It. Could end like. This. It. Could also and there is something to say for that. It's still something to consider with the crystal clear. People love color. I like it and you probably like it most people don't. But. Don't you think that's probably the way it goes. Or you could go a lighter like this lighter tent of this day.

All right. Make it pink. Crystal Mountain peace. That's the most unique piece here. And it's the piece that we spent most time and money on made there is sites specifically for the citadel. Yeah there are asides for the Crystal Mountain that aren't so pretty. You know it's sort of Brousseau because it reveals its. Inner structure so much with. The steel and. Five kilometers of reinforcing rod 18000 well. In the. Park. Yeah that one I've seen almost. Well I.

Think. It's a lot better. Yeah. And it kind of works. You've been saying. Don't. Worry. All. Right. So there's 25 pounds of Palm Beach on top there with molds taken

off of a big glass crystal. This is the inner. Circle. Especially when the sun is going down. Those perimeter pieces on that access. Yeah. So get up in particular get some ones out for that shot. That's what we me. So the pounds and pounds Normally I don't come in for the people there in the last few weeks. I was shocked. I was terrified. They said What are we doing here. But day by day when things are being built you realize. That. They had the perfect day to do

what he was doing here you can see his. First composition looking like I was. Just. The all hours that's going to be an amazing piece. You have to take it home. So anyway with that 375 you have left work go ahead and work this side the other side looks great. It looked fantastic this morning from the King David Hotel. You can see about 15 feet of it from the top of the hotel it lights up with the morning sunrise. I can't wait to see it tonight with the sunset. As you can see it's it's one doesn't just see the glass the structure is a very important part of it as well. And of course the water crystals we went on at the Y we would cover that structure. We could eventually cover it entirely if we wanted to. But then the light wouldn't penetrate from one side to the other. So we kept a fairly

fairly open. Look at that line. Maybe it will end in the morning and in some and the media won't come and say we can meet them without somebody like them. Look how rich those things are just stunning. Yeah keep laying them out like on the ground like that maybe they can get away with that. I mean that's pretty as they've look. Hey Roger. Maybe straighten him out. Maybe just turn the

glass. I don't know. Yeah because they look they look nice when they're straight. See my little boy. I know. Yeah. If you come to us come to the States sometime look me up and see out of. My day. Come on down get some dry. Little Jackson. I don't know what he'll take from all of this. He's been. This was his fourth flight. Flying in here from Budapest. Now he's 16 months old. He's been in a lot of places by the time he's. Old enough to realize it. And. I don't know what he'll take from him and I don't know what he'll do. And I certainly would never give any kind of pressure. To a young person as to what they should do.

Good job. This will be called The Mighty White Tower. I decide one day I was walking around trying to figure out where to put things. I just said I'm going to put the white powder right in the middle of the whole exhibition of this arch. And everybody was very leery about it because when they impact it people weren't really relating to the parts very well because they're mostly all whites. But for some reason it seemed like you know it needed to go there and lo and behold we put it there and it looked fantastic. The moon up above. Has about a 10 foot diameter.

Armature inside it. It's. Quite impressive. A little bit slow on the moon because we lost some of the nuts and the bolts. That we've got an EPA what they call APD we've got an APB out to the world. For more nuts. I had to send over a lot of poly vitro parts that I was going to hand off the walls of the

citadel. Which would be. You know reaching out to the public a bit. But after you know we brought down a couple of mountain climbers rock climbers. And after going out on those walls working with the archaeologist we felt that we were you know we might damage the walls in some way here. So I had some a lot of those parts that I could then use for something else and I ended up making the star. Chandelier. You. Come having. Fixed idea of what you shouldn't do or couldn't do. It's the appropriate thing to do. And the silvered piece that's right below the minaret hadn't been conceived and it was created in response to. The loss of an opportunity or the loss of a.

And it's much better than. What was originally conceived. The star chandelier which sits behind the yellow spheres is really one of my favorite pieces in the show. So we did the the black swirls. Which were made in Finland. The White House behind me which was made in the Czech Republic. The Crystal Mountain. Behind me this way. Which was made in the United States the Blue Tower which was made in the United States. The floats which were made in Japan. So it's a very international project. And Dale's first visit here. You know what he's still searching for ideas of what could happen and not happen. He took a tour of the market in the course of doing it. He came

through a store that had Hebron glasses part of what they sold. And you know he considered how how to use this material. And he. You know work with them or have them blow some glass with mixed with his glass which may be mixed with glass this blows and elsewhere in a piece that has you know a mixture of glass and. I loved the idea of doing this project Indra's we moving very near where work was one was invented and where glass was invented. And of course what's left over from that those early times. Is Hebron still has a couple of glassblowing shops. Now there's glass shops have been there for something like five hundred years. You know it's

still blowing glass in the same way. You know not using a glassblowing benchwork actually turning blowpipe on there on then on our lakes you know it's this little furnace and. You know the furnace were very much like they were 500 years ago. Very crude. Because our shop in our furnaces are really very similar to what they were like a thousand years ago in Venice. There's really not much of a way to improve upon it. So to go there and see them blow glass in the same way that they did in making their cobalt blue because that's one of the easiest colors to make that is throwing bottles in there and some cobalt blue oxide and. How many can they make by Tuesday. Doing. 25. This size 25 that size. You know to be able to do one of the pieces that from However on

glassblowers something I sort of. Really wanted to do I didn't know Bill at the time to pull it off or did. It look over there for a bit and. See what they maybe talked to your glass with in order to get. Them. And then order up a bunch of parts for an installation. Which was the last one we did here. I think it's a nice piece you know nice homage to. The history and the tradition that. It was class and this region. It.

Looks like we're going to be doing a little work tomorrow. But I should say that we finished today we open tomorrow. Perfect timing. Initially we weren't going to have as many pieces they weren't going to be as large. But I wanted to be able to really you know get a grip. On the Citadel so that when people came in they could experience. The exhibition. And really feel the force and the magic and the joy of the glass to transform the visitor in some way if they were willing to be. There.

It. Gives me. An opportunity and in a location like Jerusalem and the Citadel. To look at it to be inspired by the location. So then then I design something that's new. Like the Crystal Mountain. Much of what I do comes from working in making things looking at things

reacting to situations. Just like I've. Worked when I was a boss when I was making the glass myself. You know you go in and blow the glass and then it takes you someplace. Different every day. You know whatever happened in the city that whatever we did people wanted to see it. They came out. To see it and they came back to see this. They saw the light. Saw the color. You know it is really amazing. It's Christians Jews and Muslims. Still coming from all over the world to see this nation. It's like having a collage of all the kinds of people you can think of. I expect we will a comedian people record by the end of the exhibition. I think this exhibition probably proved to me how much art is needed in

people's lives. I had this idea of taking big blocks of ice from Alaska to Jerusalem and building an ice wall outside of the citadel. Look inside this landscape here it's really phenomenal. You know these little figures are not increasing. I mean this is really. Unbelievably beautiful. This project started in away five years ago because I was giving a lecture up in Fairbanks Alaska. And I showed my slides and I showed one of the old ice pieces in the lecture and afterwards some guy in the audience came up and that you know I you know I love ice too and I'm an ice sculpture. And you know here near Fairbanks we have this this extraordinary ice you know that is the clearest most beautiful eyes you've ever seen and it's you know it freezes six feet

thick and we cut out these big blocks and then we save them and we use them for the ice festival. And he started showing me some photographs and. One of them was of a forklift with this you know monster cube of ice on it. You know the sculptures themselves you know didn't didn't get my attention. But but this but this cube of ice was you know just phenomenal one of the greatest photographs I've ever seen. Now I've since looked at that photograph and it's. You know. See this cube on a forklift moving across the earth. You know it just inspired me to want to use it somehow. Get to. The bottom of the little. Bump. Actually my first thought was I want to take the eyes to the Negev Desert.

That was my first thought because when I think of desert I think of Negev. You know there are a lot of great deserts in the world and I've been to many of them. But to me it's always and they go right. Working on a kibbutz in LA. As a young man and I like the sound. Then they go you know it has so it means so much the go doesn't have to be that big a wall. Right. And then you can have. So any time you run into too much rubble you could just start the slide on the side of good. Keep this in mind how many blocks we got. Twenty six now. OK 26. If we only used you know 15 or 18 of them for the wall that would be enough. Also better the wall. Well either way. All right. But let me ask you this do you want to have a chunk out of your people. You know four or five years ago you have this idea and. You know it

goes. Back into your conscience and it comes. And you know there's a rhythm to ideas. And so. You know there's just this convergence of that rhythm and. The circumstances in Jerusalem that it became obvious the only thing to do is you know that is because you have a scale of a scale that was respectful and talk for all related to the. Ancient stones of the wall. It's just become a big project with a little idea maybe you know some months ago I wanted to do some special piece here because so many people from around the world and in Israel

and and I've come to see that I've come to see the project. I think I was told there were a quarter of a million people now have seen the installations in the citadel and it's a real honor for me to have people receive my work in such a way. We're going to build a wall up about four or five meters high and then it's going to start to melt tomorrow. And we don't know how long. We don't know how long it's going to last. That may last a day. It may last a week. In my last two weeks we really don't know because we've never worked with ice of this scale. I never know exactly. You know why do things. I mean it just

comes from my gut. I see the relationship to the citadel. I mean look at those stones up there that King Herod or somebody put in there almost identical sized stones as these blocks of ice. Imagine this being built you know 2000 years ago. I mean what an architectural feat. You know what a city. And I see you know I see the. I see the inside of his eyes the clarity the figures. You know I see ten thousand years of you know glacial formation here. I see you know the form the mass of the thing. There's so many aspects to the piece and it's a lot clearer than this one. It's a lot clearer from this direction. You get this. I think that's the next one. Follow me Jennifer. See it depends what you want. Now the nice thing about yours over here is that this is better because you got the wall. Jennifer that's it there. OK that's the

shot. You know look inside this landscape here it's really phenomenal. You know these little figures are not increasing. I mean this is really unbelievably beautiful. This is a world into its own. I mean I feel like you know right inside an ice cave this ice has got to be good all the way from Alaska down. Yeah. Hey still. It's OK. Yeah. Well it's OK to drink it. Absolutely. You know to have water turn to Crystal and have liquid glass turn to Crystal. I mean they're both an extraordinary phenomenon. Probably you know two of the most incredible things one an active man and one an act of nature. And so I've always loved I've always loved ice. You got green and blue right at the same blocks.

I know that's what you don't understand. I want them on all at once. All 40 on at once. I want all the energy going in here at the same time. I don't care about the computer stuff so much. I just want it full blast like. See that the color I think looks better than the whites do. I mean I'm assuming that's a white light hitting that. I just don't I don't think it be. Well anyway just take whatever that one is quick like fraudulent front of it. Put in a Ajalon the White Light. What hard. No no no. Just changing the color of the back of that boardwalk that is opaque. You know what you're right about though for this one getting it. But you get the hole that we're shooting indicated in the block. We have to bust on the back of that block doesn't have the all light up to say why don't you just throw. Do me a favor throw a couple more lights on it quickly. But you're right about that.

The clear is great as well. I love how like you like helicopters. Yeah. I'm using we have quite a lot. There you are. Yeah. That's one thing I wish I get to have as a helicopter. A little bit. Always a couple of more such exhibitions you will have. What do you mean. It cost me money. How hard would it be to string a cord through the air. Yeah I get it for them and be really cool to put a pillow to put out and throw light on it. Hey we could even cover it with a little bit of gravel. We want to make some of these. He's going to come to you because I think this is a probably more of a night piece than a day even though it will look really good in the in the sun the nighttime it's going to be more dramatic and we're going to we just started lighting that. We're going to begin to change the lights on it. We're going to try it. All clear. Maybe try it. All yellow in fact

would be nice. Still if we could go ahead and start switching can we do an all clear one still. Can you hear me. Ok buddy let's let's let's try it all clear. That would be great. I don't know what I want people to think when they see the exhibition. I want him to think whatever they want to think. You know if it's a metaphor for the melting of tensions for the millennium if there is any way you know to bring the Jews and the Arabs together here you know what a more symbolic place than this East-West line of Jerusalem. If they just come here and have a good time and watch the ice melt and see the colors in the ice you know that's great too whatever you know whatever they. Everybody take something different from something. I'm. With. You.

It took us 16 hours. Take them for walks over here take them out with a fork lift lift them up with a brain trim and set them up. We'll let you know about noon. The. Light is you know coming through here you know and now we're in that we're in this sort of high sun. Look at the way it's hitting the edges up here against the blue sky. I mean. Every every time I come back here it's something totally different. I mean I. You know look at this. Look at this. I mean how many. Different forms have occurred. You know in 20 or how many hours has it been now. You can't even think. These bodies are still very much the size they were when they started. And guess what they're going to take as long to melt. As the ones on top did.

Mean in other words how. Additionally those are all done Note that these will go layer by layer and that's why this thing is going to be here for the time I guess. Days or not. Yeah I was 10 days right. It's not going to be gone in three days and it's not going to be gone in four days. We'll see. I'm on record on film for 10 days. This is sort of an ending party of you know the biggest project I've ever done in my life. You know also the most rewarding project I've ever done in my life and I wanted I wanted to do a piece that would it would be a bit. Celebratory. And also I wanted to do this I see no more than anything I wanted to to work with this high. Raise your hands if you like it better. Where. Are all unanimous. OK. How many. I get better.

What are they. What color. All right I'll tell you what we're going to try now. All one color. All right. All right. Start putting a lot of yellow on there. You got anymore. Is that it. And a orange and a pink. All of those white ones orange and pink right down there. It was funny somebody asked me the other day. Did it. What it did it turned out. Did it turn out like you thought it would. And I hadn't even thought about that. Well they I mean they asked me that the day after we put it up I mean that day and I said I went blank and I said. Exactly like I thought it would. I mean I cannot believe how much it looks like. I thought it would look. You. Know what I didn't understand and didn't know was the quality

of the eyes. Never having worked or that I didn't know what the blocks were going to look like. But as you can see I mean there's all this all this variety within the blocks. You know some of them are clear. Some of them are vision. Some of them have bubbles some of them you know look like a laser beam had been shooting through all. This. They're saying it can go any better fall in their direction. Only a little over a half hour ago.

Darn it because we just stopped here on the way back from the parliament. We had just seen it. You know you have an idea come from somewhere. And it works. You know it always comes from from deep down somewhere you don't know why you do it. You don't know what makes it work. You don't even know until afterwards maybe what happened. It just sort of happened.