In the 2025 Spring semester, the Emily Davis Gallery welcomed back four distinguished alumni for a special exhibition titled "Reflections: A Look at Alumni Artists," curated by Arnold Tunstall, director of the University Galleries. Featuring the work of Dragana Crnjak, Kristina Malcolm, Rob O’Neil, and Stephen Yusko, the show invited audiences to explore decades of artistic evolution rooted in shared beginnings. We spoke with each of the artists about their creative journeys, what students were most curious to learn during their artist talks, and what it meant to return to the place where it all started.
Kristina Malcolm
Kristina Malcolm
"Snare"
Kristina Malcolm’s artistic journey began at Myers School of Art, where she earned a B.F.A. in Sculpture and Metalsmithing in 1998. After a decade on the West Coast studying installation art, classical sculpture, metalsmithing, performance art, and feminist art history, she returned to Summit County in 2003 to start her own silversmithing business.
Since then, Malcolm supported herself as a full-time, self-employed artist, working as a metalsmith, instructor, writer, and lecturer, while actively contributing to Ohio’s vibrant arts community.
She returned to the Emily Davis Gallery with a retrospective that spanned decades, including her newest piece, Snare, a sculptural bracelet activated by centrifugal motion. Funded by a grant from Ohio Designer Craftsman, the piece reflected her goal of increasing the scale and presence of her work in exhibition settings.
Malcolm’s creations had been featured in galleries and festivals across the region, and her commitment to teaching continued to influence the next generation of artists.
“It’s always a career of passion,” she told aspiring makers. “You have to be willing to take that risky step and commit to it. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth it.”
Reflecting on her time at Myers, Malcolm described it as transformative.
“This building has heart,” she said. “It’s where I discovered who I wanted to be as an artist.”
Dragana Crnjak
"Time Wrap"
Dragana Crnjak
For artist Dragana Crnjak, the exhibition offered a rare opportunity to bring together works created years apart and consider them as a unified whole.
“This show was really a collaboration,” said Crnjak, who earned her B.F.A. in Painting from Myers in 2002. “I would never have put these pieces together on my own. But [working with Arnold] finding the connections between them turned out to be really meaningful.”
Organized around the theme of “reflection,” the exhibition invited viewers into Crnjak’s studio process, featuring source imagery alongside finished pieces to show how ideas evolve.
“Once I begin, the references stop being important,” she explained. “But they’re essential as a starting point.”
Now a professor and practicing artist, Crnjak noted that students were most curious about the logistics of an art career—how she structured her time, how many works she created simultaneously, and how she knew when a piece was finished.
“Some paintings are fast and easy, others are terribly needy,” she said with a smile. “Each one asks something different.”
Rob O’Neil
Rob O'Neil
“Ichnographa series”
Photographer Rob O’Neil returned to the Emily Davis Gallery with a body of work created during a formative period of his career—his time as a visiting assistant professor at the Myers School of Art in 1998–99.
O’Neil earned his B.F.A. in Photography in 1992. He returned to teach just a few years later, supported by college grants that helped him produce a series of works featured in the Spring 2025 alumni exhibition.
“It was a special time,” O’Neil recalled. “There was such a strong sense of community here. Everyone was doing the work, committed to their art, and going through the same creative challenges together. That camaraderie really stuck with me.”
Now based in Albany, New York, O’Neil built a career as both an artist and educator. During the exhibition, his conversations with students focused on process: how an idea becomes a finished image, and how meaning takes form in the act of making.
“They asked really thoughtful questions about where the work came from and how I started,” he said. “It’s always great to see that kind of curiosity.”
Reflecting on his time at Myers, O’Neil added, “I made lifelong friends here. Coming back reminded me of why this community is so important and how it continues to influence the work I do today.”
Stephen Yusko
"Drift"
Stephen Yusko
For Stephen Yusko, returning to the Emily Davis Gallery wasn’t just a reunion with place, it was a reflection on decades of artistic growth. A 1990 graduate earning a B.F.A in Sculpture, Yusko now runs a Cleveland-based studio where he creates sculpture, furniture, and vessels using forged, machined, and fabricated steel.
“I’ve been working for more than 20 years and seeing these pieces together—from early oil cans to recent sculptural works—was surprisingly satisfying,” Yusko said. “They still hold up. They still speak to each other.”
The Spring 2025 alumni exhibition showcased his meticulous craftsmanship and conceptual depth. In one featured sculpture, Drift, Yusko uses precision joinery and forged elements to explore societal instability, contrasting the illusion of stability with underlying fragility.
“I’m interested in how structure can represent both balance and vulnerability—how we build, what holds, and what doesn’t,” he said
For students, he offered insights into technique and professional practice, from forging consistency to hidden joinery. “I want the craftsmanship to be visible when it’s intentional—and invisible when it’s not,” he explained.
Returning to Myers stirred memories of his own student installations, late nights in the studios, and the mentorship that shaped his career. “It feels like six lifetimes ago, and just yesterday,” Yusko said. “Walking these halls again, seeing the student energy, it reminds me why this place still matters.
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Story by: Lisa Craig, BCAS Marketing, 330-972-7429 or lmc91@uakron.edu.