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Family bonds reflected in glass installation

Artist James Kahle and Dr. George Broderick worked together to create “Gift of Art” located in the Dayton Heart and Vascular Hospital lobby at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Contributed photo Artist James Kahle and Dr. George Broderick worked together to create “Gift of Art” located in the Dayton Heart and Vascular Hospital lobby at Good Samaritan Hospital.

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By Meredith Moss, Staff Writer 5:17 PM Friday, February 19, 2010

DAYTON — It is art from the heart.

The large glass installation that decorates the entry way at the new Dayton Heart and Vascular Hospital at Good Samaritan tells a love story especially appropriate for American Heart Month. It’s designed to symbolize the power of love in healing the heart.

The unusual gift comes from Dayton cardiologist Dr. George Broderick, who approached the hospital’s Samaritan Health Foundation in December of 2008 to say he’d like to honor his parents at the new facility.

“They’ve been influential in my life and I wanted to pay them back,” said the Dayton doctor about his parents, Col. George and Mary Broderick who live in Fairborn.

“Have you considered a piece of art?” asked Martha Burgess Slager, director of philanthropy.

Broderick liked the suggestion, but nixed the idea of a painting. After some brainstorming, it was decided the commissioned artwork would be a contemporary sculpture. Slager began researching artists. A colleague she’d consulted in Florida eventually called to say she’d found someone perfect for the job.

“And can you believe it, he’s right in your hometown?” she told Slager.

Not only did James Kahle live and work in Dayton, but his glass art studio also was only blocks from Good Samaritan on W. Siebenthaler Avenue.

“I had looked in California, in Phoenix, everywhere!” said a still-amazed Slager. “I showed his work to Dr. Broderick, and he loved it. He had always admired Chihuly, and this work was in a similar vein.”

Kahle, known professionally as James Michael, has made a name for himself by creating large open vessels using vibrant colors in unique shapes. He has been creating glass since 1990 and has exhibited in more than 100 galleries in the United States and around the world.

A native of Toledo, he was originally inspired by a visit to the studios of Dominick Labino, credited as the father of the studio glass movement. His work ranges from paperweights to large glass and steel fountains, and from abstract desktop sculptures to life-size castings of humans, floor and table lamps that incorporate steel and stone. Kahle said he especially enjoys working with a client to create a new work.

“You have to look at what the client wants to do and say and then use your artwork to make that happen,” he said. When he first met with Broderick, he learned that family was extremely important to the couple being honored and that it would be ideal if many family members could be reflected in the artwork. And so they are. The completed installation, in the shape of a heart, consists of 26 individual hand blown pieces of glass, each honoring someone in the Broderick family.

“I have a brother who is fighter pilot in the Air Force, so his glass is blue and white like clouds,” Broderick said. “And I went to Notre Dame, so mine is the school colors of blue and gold.”

Four generations are represented. The two central cylindrical vessels in the piece represent Broderick’s parents, and six bowl-shaped fluted pieces symbolize their children. Each bubble shaped piece stands for the third generation and two squarish bubbles at the right are great-grandchildren.

“If you notice, the father figure has gold aventurine (a dark-colored glass) that sparkles,” explains Kahle. “This became the key for gender, all of the pieces that represent males have gold aventurine, and the females have blue aventurine.” A deep blue and white twist-wrap pattern is featured on the vessel that honors the family matriarch — colors associated with the Madonna.

The brackets that support the glass are custom-created and heart-shaped by local metal worker Dave Bosma. The colors, which complement the building’s architecture and other art, were ordered from Germany and Italy. The process — from glass blowing to installation — took about 45 days.

Broderick surprised his family with a New Year’s party in the hospital lobby where he introduced them to the new piece of art. His parents, he said, were “shocked, surprised and very happy.”

So was he. The new experience — helping to create a piece of art — was a positive one. Broderick said he enjoyed meeting with master gaffer Kahle, sharing information about everyone in his family, and visiting the glass art studio to observe the flaming ovens and molten glass.

Barbara Towns, who sits in the hospital’s front lobby as a concierge, glows when she talks about the new addition.

“They’re so beautiful, especially when the sun shines because they turn different colors,” Towns said of the unique glass. She said she is happy to give visitors “A Gift from the Heart,” a sheet that explains the project.

Slager, who took photos throughout the process, said the hospital has received great feedback about the project.

“The neatest thing about this project is that we were able to match a donor with a gift that benefited the hospital and pleased him in such a large way,” she said. “That’s the joy of fundraising.”

The public is welcome at the Dayton Heart and Vascular Hospital anytime to see the glass installation. For more photos of the art, including Kahle’s glass studio, visit http://tinyurl.com/DHVHglass.

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