NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Foster Art Gallery of Westminster College is showing an exhibition by artist Morgan Bukovec, “Are You on the Menu,” now through Dec. 5. The gallery is in Patterson Hall.

A result of her decade-long work in the service industry, Bukovec’s exhibit is a series of embroidered guest checks with various negative phrases, questions and comments taken from her own experiences with male customers.   

Bukovec is a mixed media artist, community organizer and collector of things from Cleveland. She works with objects found across mediums including collage, textiles, installation and ceramics. She focuses on the themes of identity, storytelling and fleeting moments and objects across time. 

Bukovec’s series has been awarded multiple exhibition opportunities and has been featured in national publications.  

“Each remark, command and question are quotes taken from my experiences as a server with male customers,” she said. “This series is a personal release and a way to gain ownership over the words said to me by men. It breathes with intention. The guest checkbooks have made their way into my life as I unconsciously bring them home, accumulating them over the years of serving and bartending. The sharp point of the sewing needle is a metaphor for the pain of microaggressions that slowly and unconsciously reveal themselves and worsen through repeated infliction.” 

Guests of the exhibit are asked to contribute to the piece through “share your story,” where blank guest checks are available for personal participation and reflections. 

Smarts Schedules Annual Family Dinner

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Smarts will present its annual family dinner Nov. 19 at the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 343 Via Mount Carmel Ave.

Doors will open at 5:15 p.m., with dinner at 5:30 p.m., and the program will begin promptly at 6:15 pm. 

The event will include a spaghetti dinner, student demonstrations, raffles, a wine pull and a 50/50 drawing. Tickets are available until Nov. 12 for $30 ($15 for students; free for children under 5) at SmartsArtSchool.org.

Smarts is a free public arts school for students. Its students will demonstrate what they have learned at the dinner.

Smarts currently is offering 34 classes for nine weeks this fall, serving more than 340 students and their families, in visual art, music, dance, theater and creative writing.

Jazz Artist Theron Brown in Concert at Church

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio – Theron Brown, an internationally known jazz pianist, and his trio will perform at the St. Joseph church campus of St. Blaise Parish, 4545 New Road, at 1 p.m. Nov. 23.

Admission is free. Offerings will be accepted to support the church’s music program.

Theron has also dabbled in acting, playing a young Herbie Hancock in the 2015 feature film “Miles Ahead,” directed by Don Cheadle, who also played Miles Davis in the film. Theron is currently employed as the director of jazz studies at the University of Akron. 

Pictured above: Morgan Bukovec stands in front of her exhibition, “Are You on the Menu,” a series of embroidered restaurant guest checks with negative comments written on them.