McDonough Museum of Art Spring Exhibition
John J. McDonough Museum of Art announces five exhibitions to open in 2024
The John J. McDonough Museum of Art, Youngstown State University’s Center of Contemporary Art, is excited to announce it will open 2024 with five dynamic exhibitions. Roberley Bell’s Always, and the lake; Jonathon Brewer’s Quemar Las Naves; Lauren Semivan’s A Map Both Distant and Concrete; Posters Without Borders and Emerging Artist, Morgan Bukovec’s are you on the menu on display from January 19 through March 2. An opening reception for all the exhibitions will be held on Friday, January 19, from 5-7 pm.
The exhibitions and reception are free and open to the public. The McDonough Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Of her work for her exhibition, Always, and the lake, Roberley Bell states. “For the exhibition I have created a wall installation of small-scale sculptures, titled some things. These small works were initially thought of as mental preparation for large-scale work. They have evolved into a practice in themselves opening new avenues for the investigation of the boundary between color, material and form on an intimate scale.”
Living and working in Massachusetts, Bell has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and has had both national and international residencies and exhibitions.
Jonathon Brewer is an electroacoustic musician, audio engineer, and composer living in Ohio. His work draws inspiration from quantum physics, consciousness, chaos theory, and sociology to build on the vision of a music which is self-evident without relying on overused formulas. Brewer describes his installation Quemar Las Naves, “The exhibition requires two individuals to assume the roles of disagreeing parties which is reflected in their physical orientation as well as the sonic character of their failed attempts at communication to their physically close and visible yet separate counterpart whose acoustic experience are wholly distinct.”
Using an 8 x 10” camera from the early 20th century Lauren Semivan’s “… ongoing body of work has evolved through intense contemplative study and manipulation of an ephemeral sculptural environment… Color is an emotional descriptor, creating depth within a two-dimensional space. The marks on the surface suggest topographies; roads, rivers, passageways, or impressions from suggested movement; scratches on glass, stains.” Her work has been exhibited nationally as well as at Paris Photo and can be found in collections throughout the US. Reviews of her work have appeared in The New Yorker, Interview Magazine, The Village Voice, and Photograph magazine.
Posters Without Borders began in 2013 as an international invitational poster exhibition on the subject of immigration, organized by Erin Wright, Professor of Art at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; Antonio Castro H., Professor of Art at the University of Texas at El Paso, and Eric Boelts of Brain Bolts Design in Boulder Colorado. Building on its success, the organizers mounted new exhibitions under the name Posters Without Borders on other important social subjects every two years. The McDonough will show selections from the original and past exhibitions including, 2015’s Right to Decide (voting rights & fair elections), 2017’s Action/Reaction/Interaction (social and political events), 2019’s Future Now! (joined forces with the U.N. – posters based on sustainable development) and most recently Civilitas (need for more civility in our world).
Our Emerging Artist, Morgan Bukovec is a mixed media artist, educator, and collector of things from Cleveland, Ohio. She has worked with several community art spaces in Cleveland including moCa Cleveland, Spaces, Community Arts Center, Kaiser Gallery and Headspace Gallery, providing art engagement and workshops. Bukovec describes her work are you on the menu… “This series of work is the result of the past decade of my work in the service industry…. Each remark, command, and question are quotes taken from my experiences as a server, with male customers. This series is a personal release, and a way to gain ownership over the words said to me by men.”
These exhibitions are made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.
Youngstown State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, disability, age, religion or veteran/military status in its programs or activities. Please visit the Digital Accessibility Home Page for contact information for persons designated to handle questions about this policy.
More information is available by calling the McDonough Museum at 330-941-1400.
