Staff photos / Andy Gray Katelyn Amendolara-Russo, executive director of Medici Museum of Art, talks about the work of New York artist Ross Pino, one of three exhibitions opening next month at the Howland museum.

HOWLAND — When John Anderson planned the 2021 expansion of Medici Museum of Art, one of the exhibitions he imagined for the massive gallery with its 35-foot-high ceiling was the large-scale Op art paintings of Julian Stanczak.

Anderson, one of the founders of Medici, didn’t live to see it, but Stanczak’s huge, colorful canvases fill the space for one one three exhibitions that will be on display when the museum reopens March 7.

Medici Executive Director Katelyn Amendolara-Russo said, “He (Anderson) knew these pieces existed in Julian’s collection after meeting him and collecting him over the years. So it’s fitting. It would have been his 80th birthday last week, so it’s finally full circle that we were able to get the pieces here.”

Also opening next month will be exhibitions by sculptor Barbara Segal and New York artist Ross Pino.

Stanczak, who died in 2017 at age 88, was born in Poland, but he lived in the Cleveland area for the last 67 years of his life. He was one of the leading figures in Op art — abstract, geometric works that often feel like they are moving or vibrating on the canvas.

Stanczak’s wife, Barbara, still is living, and Amendolara-Russo said she met with her several times to arrange the exhibition.

“She did visit the museum before and saw the scale and the specs of this gallery,” Amendolara-Russo said. “She called it a chapel, the perfect setting for his pieces.”

Some of the works at Medici have been in storage for more than 30 years, including “Doric,” which fills most of the museum’s largest wall. It is painted on seven panels that are each nearly 11-feet tall and 42-inches wide, creating a work that is more than 24-feet long when displayed.

“His work is in over 100 museums,” Amendolara-Russo said.

In addition to the pieces on loan from Barbara Stanczak, Medici is displaying two of Julian Stanczak’s paintings from Anderson’s personal collection.

Stone and wood sculptures by Barbara Stanczak, who met her husband when she was one of his students, also will be part of the exhibition, titled “Where Light Lives: Visions in Color and Form by Julian and Barbara Stanczak.”

“Julian’s work obviously deals with color and perception. working with color theory and how color is perceived.” Amendolara-Russo said. “Hers is more of dealing with light and how it interacts with stone. There’s a lot of organic shape, but the veins show through and the natural elements.”

“Barbara Segal: Material and Mastery” is a retrospective exhibition of the sculptor’s work, which puts a “contemporary twist” on classical stone sculpture, according to Amendolara-Russo.

Her work can be found in public collections of the Neuberger Museum of Art and the White House and the private collections of celebrities (Drake, Rihanna) and billionaires (Malcolm Forbes, Steve Cohen, Leslie Wexner).

“I studied her work in school,” Amendolara-Russo said. “It’s amazing to see how she took a traditional path — going to Pratt (Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.), learning sculpture in the 70s, her material mastery, because she really does master like Michelangelo, how she works with different stones. Now, in a contemporary fashion, she uses 3D printers to kind of help move her works ahead. She does use technology and modern means (with her more recent works) to accomplish and finalize a piece.”

The exhibit ranges from some of her earlier work, such as stone sculptures of girls’ dresses, to her well-known oversized Birkin bag sculptures to more recent pieces featuring pop culture icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop.

Segal is another artist Amendolara-Russo was able to connect with through her professional relationship with sculptor Carole Feuerman, whose sculptures are on display inside Medici and on its grounds.

“Electric Stillness” features several works by New York artist Ross Pino, who was represented in last year’s “ZODIAC” exhibition at Medici. Skeletons and Smiley Faces are recurring images in his work, which he sells on T-shirts and hoodies in addition to pieces that hang on gallery walls.

“He’s an emerging artist in the New York art scene,” Amendolara-Russo said. “His work has a lot of Basquiat undertones. I’m excited to have this show. I’m hoping to bring in a younger audience to be enthusiastic about the arts.”

Medici, which has been closed since mid-January, will reopen on March 7, and a reception for all three exhibitions is planned from 4 to 8 p.m. March 21 with Segal, Pino and Barbara Stanczak all scheduled to attend.