MassMu’s Studio M to Exhibit Maria McDonald Paintings
From the Massillon Museum:
The Massillon Museum will exhibit paintings by Maria McDonald—In Another Life: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Living—from January 27 through March 17, 2024, in Studio M. A free public reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, February 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. A MassMusings podcast interview with the artist will be posted at 12:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 5, on the Museum website and Spotify.
McDonald creates large-scale oil paintings that are tied to reality, but exist in a different place. In Another Life: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Living explores the artist's inner world and how it has been affected by her experiences. She is influenced by religious texts, mythology, and pop culture. In her paintings with vivid colors, she depicts women in environments where they are free to be themselves. In other, more realistically-colored paintings, her self-portraits face the viewer, reflecting the constraints of expectations placed upon her as a woman in contemporary society. Themes of feminism, love, loss, freedom, and heartbreak are present in all of the paintings.
The artist, who works and lives in Massillon, received her BFA in painting from Kent State University in December 2023. She has been making art since she was a child, when she often visited the Massillon Museum. While she was working on her degree, bands invited her to paint during their performances. Her live music paintings were featured in the exhibition Frequency of Color in September 2023. McDonald paints large-scale oil paintings in her Massillon studio. Her new body of artwork explores the hidden aspects of love.
Massillon Museum members have the opportunity to apply to exhibit their artwork in the Studio M Gallery on the second floor of the Museum. New members are welcome at any time. Exhibitions are celebrated by an artist’s reception, and the artists are featured guests on the Museum's podcast, MassMusings.
The Massillon Museum appreciates operating support from the Ohio Arts Council and ArtsinStark, marketing support from Visit Canton, and the support of the citizens of Massillon. This exhibition is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
McDonald’s reception will be held concurrently with receptions for Celebration in Art and The Art and History of the Black Family: Through the Eyes of the 21st-Century African American Child. Additional exhibitions that can be seen on February 4 include Jerry Kalback Deadball Era Series: An Illustrator’s Process; Massillon’s Baseball Pros: An Inning in History; Precious Legacies: Exposures of a Fleeting Landscape; Heart Gallery; Ethiopian Expedition of 1903; First Peoples of North America; Innovators of Massillon; the Immel Circus; and the local history and fine and decorative arts galleries.
Exhibitions can be seen during regular MassMu hours, Tuesday through Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
MassMu is located at 121 Lincoln Way East in downtown Massillon. A visit is always free and everyone is welcome. Free parking is available on adjacent streets and in nearby city lots. For more information, call 330-833-4061 or visit massillonmuseum.org.
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