Submitted photo Artist and illustrator Laura Garvin documents her creative process in one of five exhibitions opening Friday at Youngstown State University’s McDonough Museum of Art.

A busy summer is planned at the McDonough Museum of Art with five exhibitions opening Friday.

Some feature Youngstown State University alumni. One is a juried show featuring local artists, and one draws from the collections of other arts institutions and history museums. All five shows run through July 24 and an opening reception is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday

“Crystal Beiersdorfer: #inhale_#exhale”

Beiersdorfer, a YSU graduate and the daughter of longtime YSU geology and environmental sciences professor Ray Beiersdorfer, manipulates digital tools such as glitching, pixelization and various distortion techniques to investigate technology’s profound impact on our personal and collective experiences, according to her website.

“She had an interactive video projection here for First Friday (Youngstown) back in the fall,” McDonough Director Claudia Berlinski said. “I said, ‘Why don’t we have you show it again.'”

The first time it was exhibited, Beiersdorfer had a DJ with her, and the video projection reaction to the music played. This time there will be a microphone in the gallery, and the piece will react to the ambient noise.

“Any sound in the room will add visuals to the video, so it’ll be pretty crazy at the opening, because it gets pretty loud in there and the sound carries,” Berlinski said.

He exhibit will include two additional works, one inspired by her father’s death in 2018.

“Laura Garvin, Sketches & Storyline: An Illustrator’s Creative Process”

Garvin studied graphic design when she was a student at YSU.

“She has been doing graphic design work as her day job, but also she’s really good at illustration, and her illustration work is really taking off,” Berlinski said. “She’s been here and talked to our students, so I said, ‘It’s time, let’s do a show of hers.'”

Garvin has illustrated several children’s books, including “Bean Loves Blankies,” “The Chip on My Shoulder” and “Chocolate Spaghetti for Breakfast,” and she’s also created illustrations for Ladybug Magazine and Pittsburgh City Paper.

Her McDonough exhibition is designed to document her creative process, from early sketches to the finished project.

“Anybody who’s interested in seeing how things begin, where they get started (will enjoy it),” Berlinski said.

“Laura said she was always impacted by that. She always wanted to know how people got started, and so that’s how she wanted to do her show.”

“Sharon M. Dundee, Rusted Roots: Exploring Our Connection”

Dundee, who received her bachelor of fine arts degree from YSU, is a Cleveland-based artist who has exhibited extensively in Northeast Ohio as well as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, California and other states.

“She received a grant from Ohio Arts Council to do this project called ‘Rusted Roots,’ and part of the project was to show the work and to have an interactive or a community-engagement portion where people will be able to write down their memories, so it connects,” Berlinski said. “She has this idea that everyone who grew up in the Rust Belt feels a connection to one another because of the overlap of so many traditions and lifestyles.”

“Random Acts of Artists: Moving Forward, Looking Back”

Random Acts of Arts is a Sharon, Pa.-based artist collective that started in 2014 and now contains more than 100 members in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. It has presented juried and non-juried member exhibitions at several venues in the region, but ” Moving Forward, Looking Back” is its first show at the McDonough.

More than 50 works were submitted for consideration by 27 RAA artists. Juror Daniel Rauschenbach, a watercolorist and YSU alum, selected 33 pieces for exhibition.

“We have a good amount of photographic pieces, a lot of painting, and that could be oil, acrylic, or watercolor,” Berlinski said. “We have a couple of glass pieces, a few ceramic things, a couple of mobile pieces even. And there’s some drawing too.”

“Mahoning Valley 250, Stitches in Time”

This show was planned in conjunction with the America250 celebration and to complement a traveling exhibition by the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.

Berlinski said they worked with YSU history professor Amy Fluker, who received a grant from Ohio History Connection to fund the historical center’s project, to create the McDonough display.

In addition to items from the center, it will include quilts from YSU’s Maag Library as well as the Mahoning Valley and Trumbull County historical societies.

“The Butler also contributed some pieces,” Berlinski said. “The pieces from the Butler, in particular, are the movers and shakers from history and Youngstown, who happened to engage in making artwork on the side. They had a great impact on the area and then they made artwork too, so it was kind of cool to be able to borrow those pieces.’

If you go …

WHAT: Summer Exhibitions — “Crystal Beiersdorfer: #inhale_#exhale,” “Random Acts of Artists: Moving Forward, Looking Back,” “Sharon M. Dundee, Rusted Roots: Exploring Our Connection,” “Laura Garvin, Sketches & Storyline: An Illustrator’s Creative Process” and “Mahoning Valley 250, Stitches in Time”

WHEN: All run Friday through July 24 with an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

WHERE: McDonough Museum of Art, 525 Wick Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to ysu.edu/mcdonough-museum and 330-941-1371.