By Melody GustafsonYOUNGSTOWN -- During winter break, a small group of KSU students, faculty and community members took a day-trip to The Butler Institute of American Art on the YSU campus.
The trip was organized by Physical Therapist Assistant student Mike Canaday and Ohio Vally Regional Arts Council Chair Matt Stewart, and the group had a great time browsing the exhibits despite the security intercom's overzealous warnings not to touch them.
The work of featured artist Florian Lawton filled an upstairs room with watercolor images of Amish life and people. One of his studies is for sale in the gift shop for a cool thousand skins, as are original works by various local artists, including KSU art professor Betsy Babb.
Other selections of interest include: the latest Jackson Pollock addition, "Silver and Black"; Norman Rockwell's "Lincoln the Railsplitter", 1965; and the huge impressionist piece by Robert Vonnoh called "In Flanders Field- Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow", 1890 (shown).
A few who passed by the security guard, "Art," nodding or smiling back at him, didn't realize that he is an exhibit himself, by Marc Sijan.
Another trip is planned for spring, although the date and time haven't been settled. Every few months the exhibitions change over. Anyone who wants to go can sign up by email with Mike Canaday at binheadkiller@aol.com .
(Photos from top: Amy Bailey, Matt Stewart, Kam Hayes, and Melody Gustafson in front of "In Flanders Field- Where Soldiers Sleep and Poppies Grow"; ultra-realistic sculpture by Marc Sijan "Security Guard." Photos by Mike Canaday)
