NORFOLK, VA.- The scintillating splendor of Dale Chihuly’s artistry comes alive with Chihuly in the Garden at the Chrysler Museum of Art. This special outdoor installation, which opened April 11 in the Museum’s Memorial Garden, pays tribute to Norfolk’s natural and nautical beauty.

A hundred of the artist’s vibrant glass Reeds and Marlins shine in the sunlight from within the Museum’s waterfront garden, with its grand live oak, sparkling central fountain, and tranquil waterfront view. Nighttime illumination shows the blue works in glass in a different, more dramatic light. Memorial Garden is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m.

“Museums rarely have opportunities to show glass outside the confines of the galleries, so it is with great excitement that we bring you the genius of Dale Chihuly’s artwork in our Memorial Garden,” said Diane C. Wright, Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass.

Chihuly in the Garden, organized in cooperation with Chihuly Studio in Seattle, is on view at the Chrysler Museum through Harborfest weekend, ending Sunday, June 7. Admission is free.

The exhibition is part of a collaborative Chihuly celebration between three premier arts organizations based in Norfolk. Works by the artist also are being featured on the stage as Virginia Arts Festival, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Chrysler present Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. Chihuly designed six beautiful sculptures specifically for the moody musical drama in 2009. These breathtaking sets, 14 feet tall, convey the psychological and emotional drama of this operatic tale. This one-act spectacle of sight and sound comes to Chrysler Hall on April 18 and 19. Tickets are available for purchase at www.vafest.org.

Dale Chihuly is credited with revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement and elevating the perception of the glass medium from the realm of craft to fine art. He is renowned for his ambitious architectural installations around the world, in historic cities, museums, and gardens. Chihuly’s work is included in more than 200 museum collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Corning Museum of Glass.

The Chrysler Museum’s extensive glass collection includes one of Chihuly’s acclaimed Venetian series sculptures, a 1990 collaboration with master Italian glassblower Lino Tagliapietra. Chihuly’s work also served as a keystone exhibition in 1999’s Art of Glass, a celebration of glass art across the Hampton Roads region.