Chihuly & Scanga

Share this Article

Two major studio artists' long-time friendship brought an abundance of beautiful art forms to San Diego. Like Nikki de St. Phalle, Italo Scanga and Dale Chihuly made a lasting impression on many San Diego art collectors, museums, and public spaces.

Italo Scanga

Italo's Tree

Described as an artist's artist, Italo Scanga was a painter, sculptor and printmaker who made San Diego his home for almost 30 years. Born in 1932 in Calabria, Italo made a significant impact on the many artists and students he came into contact with, including fellow glass artist and collaborator, Dale Chihuly.

Italo Working

Mr. Scanga's life in San Diego revolved around his job teaching visual arts at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), working at his studio in UCSD (which was an old water tank) and working at his last studio on Turquoise Street in Pacific Beach. Settling in California changed his work, making it "very colorful, very joyous, happy work. It was about the good things in life, not about the horrible things." Southern California, and especially San Diego, seems to have this effect on people.

Although he created steadily and prolifically, Scanga did not become a commercially successful artist until he was nearly 50. He was internationally known for his work and his artistic influence. His work is in the collection of many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Mingei International Museum here in San Diego.

In 1992, Mr. Scanga met Su-Mei Yu, a chef and owner of Saffron Restaurant on India Street. Ms. Yu was his longtime companion until the end of his life in 2001. He died of heart failure on July 27th at his Turquoise Street studio. Most who knew him and loved him took comfort in the fact that Italo died doing what he loved the most - his art.

Chihuly and The Macchia

Dale Chihuly

Dale Chihuly was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1941. Dale single-handedly championed the use of blown glass as a material for sculpture and literally blew the studio glass movement out of the water with his explosive use of color and form. Never one to keep a good thing to himself, Dale established two very important glass programs in the U.S. starting in 1969 - the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, and two years later, the world-renowned Pilchuck Glass School.

Dale started working with blown glass in the 1960s. Mr. Chihuly was a graduate student when he met fellow glass artist, Italo Scanga and the two remained life-long friends until Italo's death in 2001. Since the late 1970s, when he lost the sight in one eye due to a car accident, and a subsequent injury to a shoulder, Mr. Chihuly found it physically impossible to continue glassblowing on his own. To continue his art work, he enlisted a team of gaffers who were able to blow, pull, and swing the hot glass to bring life to his designs.

Macchia

Throughout his career, Dale has consistently made it a point to produce work in a variety of sizes, from small vessels to room-size installations. He has produced work that can be shown inside or outside, work that can be floated in water or hung from ceilings like a chandelier. "I'm an artist, a designer, a craftsman, interior designer, half-architect. There's no one name that fits me very well."

Dale & Queen Elizabeth

Mr. Chihuly has traveled the world to demonstrate his art and has been commissioned to create numerous installations including: 'Chihuly Over Venice', 'Chihuly in the Light of Jerusalem at the Tower of David Museum of the History of Jerusalem', 'Chihuly in the Park: A Garden of Glass at Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory', the 'Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma', and Mille Fiori at the Tacoma Art Museum.