The famous landscape of London's Kew Gardens will be transformed in May, 2005 with a bold and colourful exhibition of large scale, organically-shaped glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly.

Gardens of Glass: Chihuly at Kew will be the first outdoor exhibition in the UK by the renowned artist. This spectacular sequence of uniquely shaped and vibrantly coloured installations set throughout Kew?s 300-acre garden landscape will also be the first exhibition of its kind in Europe.

A series of spectacular installations will be placed within the historic garden landscape and great glasshouses. The glass sculptures have been specifically designed to respond to the living plant collections, listed architecture, and Georgian vistas of Kew.

Most pieces will be set within the landscape ? even some floating on the huge pond ? while others can be found inside the Temperate House and Princess of Wales Conservatory.

Dale Chihuly's work is included in over 200 museum collections worldwide. He has been the recipient of many awards, including seven honorary doctorates and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Chihuly has created many well-known series of works, among them the Baskets, Persians, and Seaforms, but he is also celebrated for large architectural installations. In 1995, he embarked on the international project, Chihuly Over Venice, which involved working in glass factories in Finland, Ireland, and Mexico, with the resultant sculptures installed over the canals and piazze of Venice.

In 1999, Chihuly mounted his most ambitious installation to date, Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem; more than one million visitors attended the Tower of David Museum to view his installations. In 2001, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London curated the exhibition Chihuly at the V&A. He exhibited at the Salt Lake Art Center during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. His first major glasshouse exhibition, Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass, was displayed at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. The Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, Washington, was dedicated in 2002.

See also Chihuly at Garfield Park