Radiant Medusa
The sculpture, which Chihuly created in 2000, was installed in October by two employees of Chihuly's Seattle studio, with the assistance of three Kenyon art students. The work, with its seashell-shaped spindles reaching in all directions, has been admiringly described as "a baroque and radiant Medusa of a light fixture." The work is on extended loan to the College from the collection of Graham Gund, Class of 1963, the architect who designed Storer Hall.
"Installing the chandelier was not just a matter of hanging it up," says Special Assistant to the President Howard Sacks, who notes that the sculpture arrived in Gambier packed in fifty-one boxes. The design allows for the installers to choose the way individual pieces of glass are arranged so as to complement the setting. "It's unique in every new setting," says Sacks.
The Kenyon students helped to make these aesthetic decisions. Preparations for the installation actually began during the summer. In August, additional steel supports were placed in the lobby's ceiling to support the weight of the chandelier. Special lighting was installed to illuminate the work, which has no lighting mechanism of its own. The collections of more than two hundred museums worldwide include pieces by Chihuly, a renowned innovator in glass-blowing and glass art. A number of his works are currently installed in the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus.
One of the nation's leading liberal arts and sciences colleges and home to the Kenyon Review, Kenyon College offers 1,594 students a challenging educational experience enriched by a culture of friendship. Graduates of the College have included actor and philanthropist Paul Newman and Pulitzer-prize winning author E. L. Doctorow.