Graduating students display artwork at McDonough Museum

By Samantha Smith

Youngstown State University’s McDonough Museum of Art held an art exhibition for art pieces created by students in both the Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts programs. The reception took place from 5-7 p.m. Dec. 3 at the museum.

The exhibition displayed the work of eight seniors in the BFA and MFA programs. Students including Micheline Cleaves, Emily Fetsko, Anna Pugh, Bailee Rinestine and Holly Yarab participated in the BFA exhibition. MFA student Katherine Williamson and BFA students Emily Eastlick and Lindsay DeLullo collaborated for the MFA exhibition.

Artwork created ranged from areas of photography and interdisciplinary visual arts to graphic and interactive design and interdisciplinary studio art.

Claudia Berlinski, director of the McDonough Museum, explained more about the event and what it represented.

“At the end of each semester, the graduating seniors from the department of visual and dramatic arts, in the visual portion of the visual arts, have to mount an exhibition as part of their senior project. That is a combination of their four year program here,” Berlinski said. “Each student who is graduating and who is registered for the senior project would put their work up in the museum.”

Berlinski said when the student only has a few courses left to complete, along with the senior project and senior seminar, the rest of their classes would be designed for the senior project. 

The reception was open to the public for the first time since spring 2020.

“This is a huge moment for our students,” Berlinski said. “It is really kind of everything they have worked for over the years. They really made the push this semester to bring everything together sort of a combination.” 

The exhibitions will be on display until Dec. 18 for public viewing. For more information on the exhibitions and students participating, go to the McDonough Museum’s website.