Newly opened in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area is the Cafesjian Art Trust. From the website: “the Cafesjian Art Trust was established by Gerard Cafesjian to share his collection of Contemporary and Modern art with the public.”

Gerard Cafesjian was a vice president, and then member of the board, for legal publisher West Publishing in St. Paul. As philanthropist, he contributed several million dollars to save and restore and relocate the beloved Minnesota State Fair carousel; Minnesotans may recognize his name from the now-named Cafesjian Carousel at Como Park in St. Paul.

He had a passion for art, and collected more than 3000 pieces, including Contemporary and Modern paintings and sculpture, and a very extensive collection of art glass sculpture, one of the best in the world.

The Cafesjian Art Trust, created by his estate, purchased the building pictured above for the collection. Pieces were gathered from his residences in Naples, Florida, and Scottsdale, Arizona, and elsewhere. It opened for its first exhibition, “A Lasting Friendship: Gerard Cafesjian & Dale Chihuly,” under the direction of Executive Director Andy Schlauch. Schlauch gave the tour I attended. He has extensive knowledge of Dale Chihuly, and had many insights and stories to share. Below is a selection of what I saw, and some of what Schlauch shared with our tour.

This Chihuly Chandelier was in Gerry Cafesjian’s house in Scottsdale. It is featured just beyond the entrance hall of the Trust building.

We then walked past the library. It’s an open oval space, with art books sharing the shelves with art; pictured are just a few pieces. They aren’t currently identified with didactics.

This Chihuly Ceiling was above Cafesjian’s dining room table in Naples.

Chihuly and Cafesjian were friends and wrote letters to each other, and both men kept all their correspondence. Cafesjian purchased more than 40 of the artist’s pieces, and most of them are on display in this exhibition.

Dale Chihuly studied first with Harvey Littleton in his program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the first university-based studio art glass program in the United States. Chihuly then studied with the greatest living glassblower, Lino Tagliapietra. Then working in Murano, Italy, Tagliapietra now works in the United States. Not long after studying with him, Chihuly had two injures that prevented him from personally blowing glass after 1979; the loss of an eye, and a shoulder injury. From his experience in Murano, he came back with the knowledge of the group method of blowing glass, and applied that to his art practice. Chihuly writes and draws and paints his instructions and inspiration to the glassblowers in his shop, as evidenced above in the painting of the Cafesjian Chandelier. Chihuly is an inveterate collector of many things, from 800 Pendleton blankets to shaving brushes to bottle openers to cast iron dog door stops, and he also uses these items as inspiration for himself and his glassblowers.

The Jerusalem Cylinders are the most complicated structure that he makes. They start first by melting the clear glass into a large chunk, then slowly cooling in a kiln over the course of a week. Then the glass is broken into the jagged shards, and they are then heated up for a week to bring the temperature up to be able to attach them to the cylinders. If the temperatures of the pieces aren’t correct, it won’t work.

The Seaforms are another series, where Chihuly expands his ability to make large glass shapes; the ridges help provide strength. There is, by the way, no instructions on how these are to be nested. The smaller pieces go in the large piece. That’s it.

This wall Persian collection was installed at the house in Scottsdale. Each piece weighs 30-50 pounds. The back of each piece has a solid glass post, then cast material, then a steel post. There is 1/2″ plywood behind this wall to support the weight.

For these Venetians, Chihuly worked with Tagliapietra starting in the 1980s, through 1994.

Chihuly began experimenting with silvering glass, including silvering pieces he’d already made.

The Putti series is not as popular, so you don’t see them as often. Cafesjian has a significant number. These little cherubs were made by Pino Signoretto in Murano.

The Black series grew out of an experimentation with a new black glass.

Visit the “A Lasting Friendship: Gerard Cafesjian & Dale Chihuly” at the Cafesjian Art Trust through March 19, 2023. The following exhibition will be highlights from Gerry Cafesjian’s collection for the following six months, and then the Trust will start a schedule of three exhibitions per year. To view the exhibition, you reserve a free one-hour guided tour Thursday through Saturday. Go and enjoy!