They’ve waited in line for hours, blogged their rave reviews, and begged the Museum of Fine Arts to keep the tower of green glass even after the smash success Dale Chihuly exhibition closes.
Now, visitors to the Museum of Fine Arts are being given a chance to put their money behind their pleas.
The MFA has launched a campaign to raise more than $1 million to buy the 42-foot-tall “Lime Green Icicle Tower,’’ a signature work by the glass artist that’s been grabbing attention in the museum’s new Shapiro Family Courtyard since “Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass’’ opened in April. The public contributions will be matched by those of a group of longtime MFA donors.
It is fairly standard, these days, for a museum to acquire a work from an artist who has been featured in a solo exhibition. But typically, deep-pocketed donors are sought to make those purchases. The MFA’s public appeal includes, for the first time, a chance for museum visitors to give online and by texting on their phones - people can text the word TOWER to 50555, then reply to the follow-up message “To confirm your $10 donation to MFA Boston, reply with the word YES.’’
“People indicated clearly they wanted the piece to stay,’’ said Malcolm Rogers, the MFA director. “Many ordinary people indicated they wanted to give. It’s a great opportunity for people to give in a quite modest way and feel they contributed to making this a great place.’’
The MFA quietly began the campaign last week by adding a donation box next to the piece and sending an e-mail to museum members pointing them to the contribution website. This week, they plan to add tweets and Facebook posts to spread the word.
And later in August, an e-mail blast detailing the campaign will go out to anyone who has visited the Chihuly show. In recent weekends, people have waited hours to see the artist’s works. This week, attendance surpassed 320,000, meaning that when Chihuly closes Aug. 7, it will be at least the fifth-most-visited MFA exhibit of all time, behind just “Monet in the 20th Century,’’ “Monet in the ’90s,’’ “Renoir,’’ and “Pompeii 79 A.D.,’’ which were held in 1999, 1990, 1986, and 1978, respectively.
