The McDonough Museum of Art is housing the 78th Annual Juried Student Art and Design Exhibition that will last until April 11, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11-4 p.m. The show, hosted by the Student Art Association, happens every year bringing in a new person to juror the show.
Jurying the exhibition this year is Dan Byers, the Richard Armstrong Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and co-curator of the 2013 Carnegie International.
Claudia Berlinski, a new assistant professor of the Youngstown State University
Department of Art and adviser of the Student Art Association, expressed her excitement in leading this year’s exhibition.
“It’s always an interesting and exciting experience to see who was selected for inclusion in an art exhibition — particularly when it is juried,” Berlinski said. “There may have been a hundred or more entries and the juror’s job is to select what he/she considers to be the best and brightest work.”
Dana Mooney, the president of the Student Art Association and an employee of the McDonough Museum, said this year they were carrying on last year’s tradition of not telling those who actually got into the exhibition until opening night — as a surprise.
“We were actually really nervous about how it would work out [last year], but it turned out really well. It’s a good way to get everybody there,” Mooney said. “And even if your work doesn’t get in, it’s amazing if your friends get in.”
The artwork in the exhibition is broken down into categories so everyone is fairly displayed.
Heather Seno, the vice president of the Student Art Association and also an employee of the McDonough Museum, with the help of group officers, other members and McDonough Staff, organized the entire show. The show posters and awards were designed by a group of students in an advanced typography class.
“This year, we had 170 works entered representing Youngstown State’s current fine art & graphic design students,” Seno said.
Of those submitted, Byers chose 73 works from 42 artists and gave 19 awards.
“It really shows all of our programs and how stunning our programs are,” Mooney said. “Sometimes there are a lot of design competitions that people submit their art to, but fine arts — it’s hard to find places to display our work because our art community is smaller.”
Mooney said McDonough hosts a number of shows, international and regional, which makes it a great opportunity to be able to display their work in a museum environment — it’s very “real world.”