Staff photo / Andy Gray
“Tattwa Scrying Temple,” a handmade wool Gobelin-style tapestry by Pilar Zeta, is among the works featured in “ZODIAC: The Mysterious Power of the Creative” at Medici Museum of Art.
Astrology is the study of the stars and their possible impact on humans and the world, and an exhibition exploring those themes is attracting international art stars to Medici Museum of Art in Howland.
“ZODIAC: Mysterious Power of the Creative” features the work of more than 30 artists from the U.S. and around the world designed to explore the astrological, psychological and symbolic dimensions of creativity through contemporary art.
Medici Executive Director Katelyn Amendolara-Russo curated the exhibition in collaboration with the Carole A. Feuerman Sculpture Foundation, which was started in 2011 to create interest and passion for the arts and opportunities for artists.
Feuerman is a hyperrealist sculptor whose career spans six decades. She’s worked with publishers and rock stars (Rolling Stones, Alice Cooper) and exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery and at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. An exhibition in 2022 at Medici led to further collaborations with Amendolara-Russo.
“I sit on her board now for her foundation,” Amendolara-Russo said. “In terms of giving back and helping underrepresented artists and emerging artists, we figured since the collaboration has been strong — showcasing her art at Medici — why not use the museum as a platform (for an exhibition). We began working together a year ago, collaborating with other well known artists in hopes that this will signal a new chapter for Medici that places our community on the international stage and celebrates visionary contemporary art.”
There was an open call for submissions to provide opportunities for new artists, but Feuerman also drew upon her contacts in the global art world who were invited to participate in “ZODIAC.”
Pilar Zeta is an Argentine multimedia artist based in Mexico City who’s created installations for Miami Art Week and Art D’Egypt as well as working with Coldplay on album art and stage design and directing Camila Cabello’s music video for “Don’t Go Yet.” Lorenzo Quinn is an Italian sculptor whose work has been shown in Italy, France, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Spain and the United States (he’s also a son of actor Anthony Quinn).
Adetomiwa Gbadebo is a Nigerian prince whose work has been shown internationally and at Art Basel Miami.
Other featured artists include Donna Dodson, Barbara Segal, Abbey Model, Evelyne Brader-Frank, Dan Morgan, Maria Pavlovska and Nadine A. Ghaffar.
Many of those artists are expected to attend a VIP reception for the exhibition at Medici on July 11 and participate in panel discussions and workshops that will be announced closer to the date.
“Dan Morgan is going to give a workshop on how to photograph art,” Amendolara-Russo said. “He worked at Sotheby’s (auction house) for over 30 years.”
Also planned in conjunction with the exhibition is the unveiling of “Justice,” a large bronze sculpture donated to Medici by Feuerman.
It’s part of a larger $1.5 million donation of work by her to the museum, which will launch a public sculpture garden on the museum’s front lawn.
“Poseidon,” a one-ton bronze sculpture by Feuerman, was installed at Medici in January.
“That will be our future endeavor together,” Amendolara-Russo said. “Carole made that initiation by donating those two works. But we’re going to be partnering with the International Sculpture Center to work worldwide and bring art in a public space on the grounds, so that will be a long-term project together.”
