Landscape as a Form of Knowledge: Hear from Youngstown artist during free talk
Four artists are featured for the first exhibition this fall at the McDonough Museum of Art, including one Youngstown artist who creates intricately hand-sewn pieces.
Visual interdisciplinary artist Aislinn Janek’s latest solo exhibition is called Landscape as a Form of Knowledge; it’s opening on Sept. 5 and will be on display until Oct. 25 at the McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown.
There’s an opening reception at the museum at 5 p.m. on Sept. 5, as well as an artist talk featuring Janek at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the museum. Both events are free and open to the public.
Youngstown-native Janek is based in New York and has had art residencies in Japan, Central Europe and the U.S.
“I am interested in how repetition and obsession reveal something fundamental about human survival,” Janek said. “The stitched threads and painted layers embody the tension between fragility and endurance. Each piece is both an object and a record of time lived.”
For her, landscapes become less about the scenery and more about the memories viewers attach to them.
“This exhibition explores how the physical world becomes a repository of human perception and meaning,” Janek said. “Through layered surfaces, stitched interruptions and printed residues of place, it considers landscape not as neutral ground but as a site where memory, language and history are inscribed and fragmented.”
The McDonough’s 2025 fall exhibition also features Arron Foster, assistant professor of art at Kent State University at Stark; Michael Boyd Roman, assistant professor of design and Black visual cultures at Oberlin College & Conservatory; and Ohio-based artist Justin Sorensen.
The museum is open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at 525 Wick Ave. in Youngstown; admission is free.
