Art shows to open at McDonough

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The McDonough Museum of Art, on the campus of Youngstown State University, will open the fall season with “Sanctuary,” paintings by John Guy Petruzzi, and “Resort,” works by Andrew Ellis Johnson and Susanne Slavick.

The exhibitions will be in the galleries Sept. 7 to Oct. 26. An opening reception for both exhibitions will take place from 5-7 p.m Sept. 7. Slavick and Johnson will give a gallery talk at 5 p.m.

Petruzzi will give a gallery talk at 5:10 p.m. Sept. 19.

McDonough galleries are open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday The museum is open to the public and admission is free.

An Ohio artist and YSU alumnus, Petruzzi’s watercolors explore issues of climate change, habitat loss, extinction, and ecological imbalance. In “Sanctuary,” he presents 11 native birds of Ohio that are classified as threatened, endangered, extirpated and even extinct.

He uses realistic detail and coloration in combination with an unnaturally intense green tone to create flocks of birds that seem to be both magically multiplying and struggling to free themselves.

Petruzzi’s work has been widely collected and nationally exhibited.

He has worked as an artist in residence at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

There will be several events taking place in conjunction with the exhibition including:

Guided bird walk, led by Petruzzi, at Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary at 9 a.m. Sept. 22. Register at Ford Nature Center by Sept. 20, or call 330-740-7107.

“Sanctuary” panel discussion: The Fate of Birds, with Brian Bonhomme, Ian Renne and Petruzzi from 11 a.m. to noon Oct. 3.