Department of Art to welcome guest artist Ron Copeland to begin fall exhibition schedule

YSU’s Department of Art will welcome guest artist Ron Copeland to exhibit and lecture in the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery, located in YSU’s Bliss Hall, beginning Monday, August 25, through Friday, October 3.

Copeland is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist whose work spans sign painting, assemblage, murals, printmaking, photography, and illuminated sculpture. Rooted in a reverence for typography, design, and reclaimed materials, his work is an engagement with the visual language of vintage signage and advertising of a bygone era into a fragmented, dream-like reinterpretation of the past.

His exhibit, “Fragmented Narrative: Language of the Sign,” recontextualizes reclaimed materials into layered, visual stories that honor communities, working-class ideals, the poetry of place, and progression of composition. Drawing from the Rust Belt’s fading storefronts and industrial relics, Copeland’s hand-painted, screen-printed, collaged, and illuminated works evoke memory through texture, typography, and timeworn surfaces.

Copeland, originally from Northeast Ohio, began his creative journey in the sign and printing industries. He later established his art practice in Pittsburgh, where his career expanded through numerous solo and group exhibitions both across the country and abroad.

In addition to his exhibit at the Solomon Gallery, Copeland will hold an opening reception and lecture Thursday, August 28, from 4:00 – 7:00 PM, and a closing reception and lecture Friday, October 3, from 5:30 – 6:30 PM. Both events will be held in the Solomon Gallery.

Entry to all events is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Wick Avenue Deck (M30) for a $5 fee payable in cash only. The Judith Rae Solomon Gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM.