By Sydney Fairbanks
The McDonough Museum of Art will welcome five new art collections for its spring exhibits with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. on Jan. 19. The exhibits and related performances will run until March 2.
The featured artwork will be on both levels of the museum and will feature a variety of mediums.
The lower level of McDonough will feature work by Lauren Semivan and Roberley Bell.
Semivan is a photographer from Detroit. Her piece “A Map Both Distant and Concrete” will feature photographs that fluctuate between abstract and reality.
Bell is an artist from Massachusetts. Inspired by nature and time, her piece, “Always in the Lake,” is made up of abstract sculptures and drawings that allow for viewer interpretation.
The top floor of the museum will have works from Jonathan Brewer, Morgan Bukovec and Posters Without Borders, an organization that creates posters about social issues.
Brewer is the audio video engineer and coordinator for Cliffe College of Creative Arts. His piece titled “Quemar Las Naves” is a double sound booth audio piece that highlights the lack of communication in society.
Brewer said his audio piece comments on society by giving the user an opportunity to communicate with a person that they can see, but the sound will be distorted so they can’t understand their message.
“It’s kind of commenting on the echo chambers that we put ourselves in with social media and our friend groups,” Brewer said. “We surround ourselves with people who think like us, when in reality, as a society, as a culture, as a world, we do our best when we work together and bridge those divides.”
Morgan Bukovec is an artist from Cleveland whose exhibition, “are you on the menu,” consists of embroidered guest checks on the distasteful comments she received while working as a woman in the service industry.
Bukovec will host a lecture at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 31 and a performance at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 28. Her performance will allow the audience to share the unpleasant comments they have received as well.
Claudia Berlinski, director of McDonough Museum, said the exhibits are meant to compliment one another. The upper floor will focus on social commentary while the lower floor focuses on color and linear aspects.
“It’s almost like what I refer to as ‘art for art’s sake.’ It’s this sort of color-form, space kind of thing going on there. I think they’ll complement each other,” Berlinski said.
Berlinski said she chose the artists because she enjoyed seeing their work elsewhere and thought their proposed ideas sounded interesting.
“I like to find things that might address the different media that we teach here as well as different concepts,” Berlinksi said. “Anything that might inspire the students to think about how things could be with their work or inspire their work.”
Bruce Maciejewski’s work on completing unfinished films will also be available for viewing March 20.
In April, the museum will host a meeting for National Poetry Month. The annual art and design exhibition, put together by the Student Art Association, will also take place in the spring.
The last exhibition of the semester will be the BFA exhibition with graduating seniors’ work.
McDonough Museum will announce the official event dates on its website throughout the semester.