Studio Edition Glass by Dale Chihuly Available Exclusively at the Columbia Museum of Art's Museum Shop

In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition Dale Chihuly: Seaforms, the Columbia Museum of Art has partnered with Portland Press to offer an opportunity to support museum programs by purchasing hand blown glass and limited edition prints by celebrated artist Dale Chihuly. The Museum Shop is the only retailer in South Carolina providing Chihuly's artwork for purchase.  

The newly released 2008 Studio Editions and Limited Edition Prints are now available through the Museum Shop at 1515 Main Street. Over the past 40 years, Chihuly has created innovative and dramatic installations that have delighted audiences around the world.

Glass pieces available are: Dakota Macchia, Phoenix Persian Pair, Vienna Green Basket Set and Firefly Macchia, and all capture the vibrant colors and dynamic forms of Chihuly's artwork. Each Studio Edition is signed and accompanied by a custom-designed display case and a book related to its specific glass series.

Also available in the Museum Shop are original Limited Edition Prints by Chihuly: The Classic Five, Evening Cool, and Crow's Shadow Baskets.

The purchase of Studio Editions and Limited Edition Prints by Dale Chihuly directly contributes to the continued success of the Columbia Museum of Art.

Information about Dale Chihuly: Seaforms and related programs can be found at columbiamuseum.org. Information about Dale Chihuly can be found at www.chihuly.com.

Columbia Native Constantine Manos lectures on A Greek Portfolio
Photographer returns to South Carolina for first time in nearly 20 years

Photographer and South Carolina native Constantine Manos presents an illustrated lecture of A Greek Portfolio now on view in the Mamie and William Andrew Treadway, Jr. Gallery 15, as well as some of his contemporary work on Friday, September 19 at noon. The book, A Greek Portfolio will be available for purchase in the Museum Shop for a book signing following the lecture. The lecture is free with museum admission or membership.

"I have a great appreciation for Columbia and the education I received there has carried throughout my life. I am looking forward to seeing the city and its people again," Manos said. Manos' visit coincides with Columbia's 22nd Annual Greek Festival. 

A Greek Portfolio represents an impromptu pictorial account of Manos' travels through rural Greece and the Greek islands in the 1960s. In frame after frame he reveals with warmth, feeling and understanding a way of life that had remained virtually unchanged for centuries but was destined for extinction as the youth of these small country villages and secluded farms left for the opportunities in the city. The exhibition will be on view through January 11, 2009.

Manos was born in Columbia to Greek immigrant parents and began his photographic career when he was 13 years old. He continued his photography after he graduated from the University of South Carolina. Manos' photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and other international museums. The Columbia Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago are the only two museums in the country that own a set of prints from Manos' 1972 book, A Greek Portfolio. This will be the first time Manos has visited Columbia in nearly 20 years.