YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Four exhibitions, including three by regional artists with distinctive styles, will open May 30 at the McDonough Museum of Art at Youngstown State University and run through July 19.
They are:
- Ronald Jason Van Hoose, “Time, The Earth and The Dream – A Retrospective.”
- Jeffrey S. Piper, “col·lo·cate.”
- Mike Egan, “Built By Death.”
- Works from the Inspiring Minds program.
An opening reception for all the exhibitions will take place from 5-7 p.m. Friday, May 30. The McDonough Museum, 525 Wick Ave., is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.
A graduate of YSU’s fine arts program, Van Hoose is influenced by the Regionalist School, the Hudson River School and 19th-century popular imagery and 20th-century science fiction illustration.
His paintings are found in corporate and private collections throughout the United States, and his work has been exhibited in galleries in Columbus, Cleveland, Montreal and New York City. Van Hoose manages the Lemon Grove Gallery in downtown Youngstown and is the creator of the popular Facebook page Youngstown Archeology.
Piper is a multidisciplinary artist who teaches art at Lakeview High School and is an adjunct instructor at Mount Union University and YSU.
Though his primary focus is painting, he also works in ceramics, often employing a mixed-media approach in his artwork.
His work has been exhibited at The Butler Institute of American Art, The Hoyt and several galleries.
Egan is influenced by printmaking and artists such as Jose Guadalupe Posada and German Expressionists such as Kathe Kollwitz. The linework and bold graphic quality of woodblock printing would come to influence his later painting. Egan went to mortuary school and worked as an embalmer while continuing to paint.
His style of bold lines and dark imagery is influenced by printmaking and his appreciation of traditional tattooing. His love of religious imagery, his experiences dealing with life and death and his love for skeletons and devils are manifested in his work.
Pictured at top: “Winter Jay” by Ronald Jason Van Hoose.