"Blanketforts" exhibit comes to YSU's Bliss Hall

The art of Kjellgren Alkire will be exhibited in Bliss Hall in March, starting with an artist lecture 5:10 p.m. Wednesday, March 1, in the McDonough Museum of Art on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The free public lecture is presented by the YSU Department of Art.

The exhibit runs March 6 to 31 in the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery on the second floor of Bliss Hall on campus.

Alkire holds a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., and earned a master’s degree from Arizona State University.

In his performances, Alkire pairs male characters with text, graphics, and installation to simultaneously interrogate and celebrate subcultural production of identity and mythology. For his exhibition, “Blanketforts,” Alkire will create a site-specific installation and performance that will utilize the architectural space at the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery in Bliss Hall. The built “blanket fort” will exist as formal objects and loose constructions.

Alkire has been awarded many prestigious grants, including the 2014 Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists, a Minnesota State Arts Board Artists Initiative Grant, a Contemporary Forum Award from the Phoenix Art Museum, and Project Funding from the Missouri Arts Council.

Parking is available in the M30 Wick Avenue deck via Walnut Street for a nominal fee. Patrons are advised to watch for posted detours as construction progresses on Wick Avenue. For more information, call 330-941-2307.