An Affair to Remember: Chasing Chihuly to the Spencer Theater
Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower, Dale Chihuly / CS Harvey
Discovering the work of Dale Chihuly in the fall of 2012 was a kind of revelation. I can't fully recall what my expectations were when buying the tickets for that year's Chihuly at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts exhibition in Richmond, VA, but I can say that I walked out feeling both a sense of awe and magic. The thing that grabbed me most was watching the stream of onlookers marvel, explore, and move through the exhibit in a way that was not simply silently standing before a work, looking for a moment, and then respectfully shuffling on to the next — like me, they were transfixed and engaged as they explored a wonderland of glass, shape, and color. The experience was so immersive…
…and so began a kind of love affair.
Over the years that followed, I went on a kind of Easter egg hunt for Chihuly works. Seattle was an obvious choice, with the city being home to Chihuly Garden and Glass, and nearby Tacoma being the artist's native home. Oklahoma City was another no-brainer, as that city's Museum of Art houses one of the largest public collections of Chihuly's art anywhere in the world (along with the world's tallest tower of Chihuly glass). I found works on display in Denver, in Palm Springs, and in Las Vegas (both Nevada and New Mexico), but the most exciting, off-the-beaten-path location is seen here — the Spencer Theater of the Performing Arts, located just north of tiny Ruidoso, NM.
The Spencer is a world-class theater, boasting close to 5,000 square feet of stage space, over 500 seats that are intimately close to the stage at all points, an architectural design by world-renowned architect Antoine Predock, and it was once named one of the seven greatest theaters in the world. It also happens to house one of the world's largest private collections of Dale Chihuly art on public display.
I lived in Santa Fe, NM, some three and a half hours to the north of the Spencer Theater, from 2016 through 2018, and it was in the last few months of my time in the Land of Enchantment that I discovered two important details: that the Spencer Theater existed, and that it offered two guided public tours a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. And yes, the Chihuly works were a prominent piece of the tour. So in early March of 2018 I set my alarm clock for 5:30 a.m. on a random Tuesday morning and was in my car by 6 to make my way three and a half hours south.
Technically the tours are free at the Spencer, but there is an encouraged donation from all visitors. I think my tour group was maybe 8 or 10 of us, assembled on a brisk, sunny New Mexico morning, and the tour was both informative and eye-opening. The backstage space is massive, and it was shared that a number of touring Broadway companies actually stage their performances here before taking them on the road, because the Spencer Theater's size and technical amenities are so accommodating to large productions and their needs. You learn that the inspiration for the Spencer's architectural design sits in the nearby Sierra Blanca peak that stands just off to the west and anchors the sightlines of the horizon. And of course you learn how Chihuly became associated with the theater specifically, and with New Mexico more broadly.
I am just now realizing that I am telling a much longer story than I originally intended, and I still haven't even gotten to the best part of the tale as it relates to this picture of the Glowing Sunset Tower — it's coming. Chihuly's connection to New Mexico goes back to the early '70s, and those roots would prove influential — both for the artist himself and for a number of New Mexico artists he would go on to inspire. One significant piece of the Spencer's collection is the Indian Paintbrush series, patterned from New Mexico's summer wildflowers. A significant amount of the fine art glass on display at the theater was commissioned by the theater's founder, and it is the gift of her private collection that serves as the backbone of the collection housed here. There is a series of cobalt blue baskets, which were a gift from the artist; a thirty-plus-piece display of Chihuly's The Persians; a large chandelier and Ruby Sea Garden installation on the second floor; and then our tower photo, in the theater's Crystal Room.
Glowing Sunset Tower, Dale Chihuly / C.S. Harvey
The tour lasted a little over an hour, and afterward, as tour guests, we were invited to browse the downstairs and lobby collection at our leisure, which allowed for a lot of great photo opportunities in an intimate and unrushed way. A couple days later I would pull out some of my best shots and share them on my Instagram page, and start planning some adventure or other in the vast desert Southwest. End of story? Not quite…
Three or four months later, a DM would show up in my Instagram account. I didn't recognize the name as any follower or acquaintance, and opened it with nonchalant curiosity. As it would turn out, it was an individual who worked within the Spencer Theater's office staff, and she was reaching out to tell me that she loved my photographs and wanted to thank me for coming down to take the tour and for sharing my experience. She also had another, more intriguing and exciting question — would I be interested in having one of my photos included in the theater's annual performance schedule program?
More specifically, she was asking if I would like to be on the publication's cover for the Fall/Winter/Spring 2019–2020 season.
And so that's exactly how immersive my experience with the art of Dale Chihuly has become. I still have a few copies of the Spencer Theater's program schedule from that 2019 season. I still have a continuing love and wonder for Chihuly's work. And now you have the reason why this photograph is the first in a continuing series of "affairs to remember.
