Holy Toledo

Botanical Garden glass flower

When you hear "Toledo, Ohio," what do you picture?  A Rust Belt city that has seen better days?  Well, okay, there might be some truth to that.  But Toledo, the Glass City, is much more than an industrial town.  While a number of giants of the glass industry -- Owens-Illinois, Owens Corning, Libbey Glass -- originated in Toledo, art glass is just as important.  The Toledo Museum of Art, with its cool, modern Glass Pavilion, houses one of the most comprehensive glass collections in the world.  Furthermore, it was in Toledo in 1962 that American studio art glass really began.  It was a happy coincidence of a glassblowing workshop at the Toledo Museum of Art led by Harvey Littleton, a ceramics instructor at the University of Wisconsin, and a glass engineer and innovator named Dominick Labino.

We were recently in Toledo for a couple of days and stopped by the Museum of Art.  My husband grew up in Toledo, so we have been to the Museum many times, but a special treat this time was "Color Ignited: Glass 1962-2012," an interesting exhibit.  It took us a while to work our way back to the Wolfe Gallery, where the exhibit was housed.  I mean, you can't just rush past the Impressionists, Rodin statues, and the Cloister!  I don't think I was supposed to take pictures in the Wolfe Gallery since it was a special exhibit, but I did snap this one before I remembered.

"Bowl: Citron Vanishing Gladiator" by Stephen Rolfe Powell

Glass and art also play a part at the Toledo Botanical Garden, still called Crosby Gardens by the locals.  The Botanical Garden was started when George P. Crosby, a businessman and realtor, donated 20 acres for a park in 1964.  The Garden now covers more than 60 acres.  And not all of the flowers are alive!  Check out these amazing larger-than-life glass poppies outside the artist demonstration buildings and shops.

In addition to the art outside in the gardens, there is also a Lithophane Museum on the grounds.  A lithophane is a delicate artform that reveals its three-dimensional beauty when back lit.  Plaster molds are made from beeswax carvings which are then cast, usually in porcelain.  The picture below is a lithophane lamp.  The lighter areas were more deeply carved to allow more light through.  Imagine the skill the carver would need to create all the detail.

Of course, the Botanical Garden also features some living things as well.

I believe this is a carpenter bee.  It was at least an inch long!

So there's just a little taste of Toledo.  And now, this fat lady doesn't sing, she doesn't even talk, but if she could, she might tell you to check out Toledo for yourself.

"Woman with the Birds" by Joe Ann Cousino