Studio Art Glass
The studio art glass movement, which is nearly synonymous with the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, WA, is represented in the museum’s collection by a variety of significant works. Tacoma Art Museum is proud to be the repository of a body of studio art glass that records the history of the Pilchuck Glass School and preserves and illustrates the history of how the Northwest came to be a world-renowned center for studio art glass. The museum’s collection is built upon key gifts from Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg, and Paul Marioni. The school was co-founded by Chihuly and Hauberg with her husband John Hauberg. Marioni served as a long-time instructor.
The museum’s glass collection is anchored by Anne Gould Hauberg’s gift of 151 works. As one of the founders of the Pilchuck Glass School, Hauberg’s collection charts the development of the early years of Pilchuck. As a leading arts patron in the Northwest West, Anne Gould Hauberg championed many artists and cultivated deep friendships with many of them, notably Dale Chihuly.
One of the most prominent collections in the museum is the Dale Chihuly glass collection. As a gift to the region, Dale Chihuly donated a retrospective collection of his work in honor of his parents, Viola and George, and his brother, George W. Chihuly. Approximately forty of these works are featured in a long-term installation in the museum. In 2006, Dale Chihuly donated the installation "Ma Chihuly’s Floats", a collection of thirty-nine works from the Niijima Floats series, in honor of his mother which is installed in the museum’s central courtyard from late spring to early fall each year.
Paul Marioni, one of the nation’s foremost innovators in glass art, gifted his collection of nearly 400 artworks to Tacoma Art Museum in 2012. The Paul Marioni Glass Collection traces the evolution of the Studio Glass Movement through Paul’s engagement with the Pilchuck Glass School, where he taught from 1974 through 1988. The core of the collection focuses on more than 70 works by Paul Marioni that document his evolution as one of the most important artists working with glass.
On January 14, 2016 TAM announced the gift of the Rebecca and Jack Benaroya Collection carefully assembled during their 70 years of marriage. The collection of 225 works includes Northwestern and international studio art glass along with important paintings and sculptures by renowned regional artists. The gift includes a contribution for the construction of a new addition to the museum where the story of studio art glass in the Northwest region will be highlighted.
