HOWLAND, Ohio – A unique and colorful modern artwork has been added to the most visible gallery at the Medici Museum of Art.
“Cosmic Galaxy” was custom-made for the space by renowned New York artist Abby Modell. It is made of multiple large pieces of handblown glass and is arranged along a 17-foot-by-13-foot wall behind a massive window that faces the street.
Modell and her crew came to the Medici on Tuesday to install it.
“Cosmic Galaxy” features dozens of foot-wide circular pieces in varying colors and designs. Some are decorated with Swarovski crystals and others with smoothed shards of glass.
The finished work is a colorful scene. Some of the glass pieces have reflective surfaces that take in the images of objects, bringing images of nearby viewers into the piece.
The artwork is also clear to passersby in cars along East Market Street during the day and night. Specially arranged lighting fixtures make the piece more visible from a distance.
The gallery juts forward from the front of the museum. It once housed a massive ceramic mural by French artist Pierre Soulages, which left the museum in 2022.
The Medici had been housing temporary exhibitions in the gallery for the past three years.
Katelyn Amendolara Russo, executive director of the Medici, was waiting for just the right piece to come along to take up a more permanent home in the gallery. She wanted something that would take advantage of the size and stature of the room and feels fortunate to have acquired Modell’s piece.
“It will be the first work of art our patrons see from the street,” Russo said. “It’s going to invite you in and brighten up [the atmosphere]. It welcomes the community with light, hope and beauty before visitors even step inside.”
Modell said every piece is handblown at her studio in Brooklyn and then completed at her finishing space.
Smaller decorative items, including the Swarovski crystals, are added to some of the pieces.
Some pieces have a glossy finish and others are lustered. Their shapes also vary, ranging from disc-like to hemispherical.
Modell said she started the artwork with a sketch of what the finished product would look like, and then made each piece.
“This piece is influenced by the stars in the sky and movement of the stars when they burst and look like the Milky Way,” she said. “It’s done in an ombre [color sequence] and flows from blues to greens to purples to orange to yellow.”
Modell is available for commission work. People interested in the piece, or who would want a smaller work with the same types of glass pieces, can reach her by contacting Russo at the museum.
Modell said she was “very honored” to be given the opportunity to fill the Medici space.
The artist is used to working on large public installations but said the Medici space is very unusual for her.
“The thing that’s not common is to have it in such an exciting venue where the public can see it and enjoy the work,” she said.
Russo feels fortunate to have come across Modell and her work.
She became acquainted with the artist through the “Zodiac” exhibition by sculptor Carole Feuerman that went on display at the museum earlier this year. Modell is a celebrity artist in “Zodiac,” and one of her pieces is in that show.
“I got lucky with being connected to Abby,” Russo said. “When I saw her works with glass, I thought it would be perfect for that front room.”
Modell also donated a small piece to the museum that is now on display in the children’s outdoor garden. It appears as two colorful caterpillars, each a couple of feet long, created of blown glass.
The artist has a familiar name, especially for folks in northeastern Ohio. She is married to the grandson of Art Modell, who owned the Cleveland Browns from 1961 to 1995 and then the Baltimore Ravens from 1996 to 2004.
Pictured at top: Abby Modell stands in front of her piece, “Cosmic Galaxy,” as a worker installs it.