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Lower Paxton Twp. REFLECTIONS
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
By David N. Dunkle
of the Patriot-News
On a rainy Friday afternoon, Ona Magaro and her husband, Ira Cuelho, stood shoulder to shoulder, 15 feet in the air, marrying glass to iron.
On the floor below the artists, dozens of colorful bulbs, plates and spirals were laid out on a large sheet of bubble wrap, awaiting their journey on the couple's aerial lift.
On the two-story wall in front of them, a swirling steel framework forged by Cuelho slowly became festooned with clusters of Magaro's delicate glassworks.
By Sunday morning, the couple had completed their work in the new atrium of Community General Osteopathic Hospital, on Londonderry Road in Lower Paxton Twp. The result is a warm splash of flowers and balloons that triggers thoughts of a child's birthday party.
"They asked for something optimistic, something that would be healing," Magaro said of the commissioned piece. "We tried to make it inspirational and uplifting."
The sculpture measures nearly 9 feet square and holds 300 pieces of glass, mostly in yellow, orange and rose, with a sprinkling of green and blue. Spotlights and recessed lights in the ceiling make the pastels glow with an inner fire.
"We wanted something unique that would be a bit of a conversation piece," said Bill Wilkison, the hospital's vice president of ambulatory care and ancillary services and site administrator. "I think we've gotten that."
Wilkison said Magaro was recommended by one of the project consultants and submitted sketches the architect believed would be ideal for the space.
The atrium will open with a public dedication ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Thursday. PinnacleHealth System owns the hospital.
The project is part of a larger, ongoing expansion and modernization of Community General. The new lobby also connects it to an adjacent 55-bed rehabilitation hospital.
Magaro, a central Pennsylvania native, met Cuelho in Alaska, where he was guiding hunting parties and she was tending the base camp. They married about a year ago and built Glass Horse Studio in his native Montana.
They transported the Community General sculpture by truck from Montana last week. In June they plan another return, for an exhibition of their work at Creative Arts Studio in Enola, which is owned by Magaro's mother, Char.
"She and Ira really do beautiful work, and that's not just a mother's enthusiasm," Char Magaro said.
DAVID N. DUNKLE: 255-8266 or daviddunkle@patriot-news.com |
