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 "If we don't have our paintings
and art and music and culture and civility, then
what do we have?" said the president and chief
executive of Chihuly, Inc, who chaired the board
of the Seattle Symphony for nine years until
2018.
"What art does is create that thin veneer that
separates us from our more base instincts.
Without it, I don't like how life looks."
Chihuly, 59, had a chat with Reuters about her
personal, professional and philanthropic
choices.
Edited excerpts are below.
Q. What did your first job teach you?
A. My first job was probably when I around 14 or
15. I worked in a small boutique store on the
Main Street in my hometown (Guymon, Oklahoma),
and it was called The Vogue.
I wanted to save up for a Christmas present for
my mother. I loved having a job, having my own
little bit of money in my purse. I also learned
how to perfectly wrap gifts. I'm really good at
gift wrapping.
Q. What was your toughest job?
A. Doing multiple jobs at the same time. I was
doing the job of being a mother. I was doing the
job at Chihuly with a lot of complexity and a
lot of projects and issues. I was also
simultaneously board chair of the Seattle
Symphony, which is a huge job. It's more than a
full-time job at times.
Having all of those jobs at the same time and
trying to balance the load, I found out that I
can really push myself. I had to learn how to
prioritize and also delegate.
Q. It's a particularly bleak time for creative
professionals such as artists and musicians. Do
you have any advice for creative types?
A. I know it's a difficult time, but it's also a
very fertile time. Dig deep and keep making
work. Keep writing, keep making music, keep
doing what you do. It's so essential.
Q. What has been your biggest challenge this
year?
A. We had to figure out how to blow glass
safely. We closed our glass shops for quite a
while. We have fewer people on our team now, but
we're still spread out in three locations.
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 We can't travel and so many of
our projects involve working all over the world
and in different parts of the country. We had
three different gallery shows - in London,
Toronto and Seattle. Not being able to travel,
we had to show those galleries how to install
the shows without us.
Q. What's the best piece of job advice you've
received?
A. Learn how to listen. If you can listen to
others and you can listen to your employees and
subject matter experts, you're going to make
better decisions.
It's great to be proactive, to be leading and
guiding, but you still have to have that back
and forth. Q. Do you have tips
for someone just starting out right now?
A. In every dark time or challenging time there
are still opportunities, and there are
opportunities for creative approaches on how to
do things. There are always goods and services
that people need and there are always those
needs to be filled.
There's always a path forward. You need to draw
a support team around you and know that you
can’t do it by yourself.
Q. What is your work-from-home set up?
A. I like to move around a lot, so I don't have
one desk where I sit and work. I use the couch
in our TV room for doing my Zooms because I like
having a piece of art behind it. It's a Samuel
Levi Jones, one of his paintings, and it's made
of book covers.
Q. Where do you want to go when the world opens
up again?
A. My three "I" countries: Ireland, Italy and
Indonesia. I spent my junior year abroad in
Ireland. Dale and I share a deep love of
Ireland. It has to do with the arts, the music,
literature and nature.
Italy is work and pleasure-related. We always
have projects we want to do in Italy.
Indonesia would be more for fun because that's
where I've been going in recent years for
diving.
(Editing by Lauren Young and Richard Chang)
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