Staff photo / Andy Gray
Artist Carole Feuerman stands in front of her sculpture “Justice (Monumental),” one of two large sculptures she donated to the Medici Museum of Art in Howland.
HOWLAND — As the name implies, art fills the galleries of the Medici Museum of Art.
Executive Director Katelyn Amendolara-Russo wants to fill the grounds of the museum with art as well.
The museum is working to create a sculpture garden, and internationally recognized artist Carole Feuerman, who first exhibited her work at Medici in 2022, is helping to make that a reality.
Feuerman’s “Poseidon,” a 6-foot-tall, one-ton, bronze-with-green-patina sculpture, was installed in front of the museum in January. A second sculpture, “Justice (Monumental),” was added to the grounds last month.
It is even more … well, monumental, towering nearly 10 feet tall with one of Feuerman’s super realistic bathing-suit clad figures sitting atop a large reflective ball.
She said she named the piece “Justice” because everyone who looks at it is reflected in it and must contemplate their place in the work and in the world.
The two works have a combined value of $1.5 million.
“The acquisition of Carole’s two works initiates a sculpture park outside,” Amendolara-Russo said. “In northeast Ohio, there’s not many sculpture gardens, and we’re lucky enough to have the land to be able to move forward with this plan.”
Feuerman is one of three artists credited with starting the hyperrealism movement in the 1970s, and her work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, Palazzo Strozzi Foundation and the Circulo de Bellas Artes.
She was in town this week for the reception for “ZODIAC: The Mysterious Power of the Creative” at Medici, and it was her first opportunity to see both pieces at their new home.
Both the “ZODIAC” exhibition, a juried show that invited artists to explore mystic themes, and her first sculpture donation are connected.
“I’m an astrologer, and I love these mystic powers and mythology,” Feuerman said. “I thought my next show, even before I knew Katelyn, should be on astrology and the mystic, and I started this sculpture. Poseidon is one of the gods, and I’ve done a lot of the gods and goddesses. So I started it, and I decided that it would be wonderful on the front of the lawn at the Medici.
“I’m in a sculpture show at the Nassau County Museum right now. They have an incredible sculpture garden, and I thought this museum would be great to have one too.”
Amendolara-Russo serves on the board for Feuerman’s foundation, which has created opportunities to recruit other artists.
“Carole’s on the board of the International Sculpture Center,” Amendolara-Russo said. “Through that, I’ve attended programs in New York City to meet and network with some of our most well-known sculptors to hopefully make plans now to bring them here to Medici.”
Johannah Hutchison, executive director of the International Sculpture Center, attended a private donor reception on Thursday at Medici. A sculpture garden can be a challenging project for any museum because of the size and weight of the works, and Hutchison said she was excited by the potential there.
“Whenever someone commits to a sculpture garden, it’s a beautiful thing,” she said.
Securing funding to acquire additional works will be the next step.
“It’s very important for the museum to have a permanent collection, which Katelyn is working on,” Feuerman said. “They have very good pieces, but the better the collection, the more prestigious it is.”
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