Show profiles artists from Northeast Ohio

Youngstown native James Pernotto is one of the focuses of the show.
THE VINDICATOR
KENT -- An upcoming new episode of PBS 45/49's "Northeast Ohio Times" celebrates people who are definitive artists in their communities.
In Cleveland, that person is industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost. In Akron, it is sculptor Don Drumm. Canton has watercolorist Tom Franta and Youngstown calls artist James Pernotto its own.
"Northeast Ohio Times" host Jody Miller visits with each of the artists in the program that airs at 8 p.m. May 21 and repeats at 10 p.m. May 23; 3 a.m. May 27; and 8 p.m. May 31.
Jody Miller and PBS 45/49 producer Duilio Mariola said they chose to interview these artists after asking community leaders, "When you think of an artist in your city, who comes to mind?" These four artists were named without hesitation.
"While these gentlemen create art in vastly different forms, we were intrigued that all four of them said that they hope their art communicates a message," Mariola said. This program offers interesting portraits of four cities' leading artists.
Schreckengost
Now 99 years old, Sebring native Viktor Schreckengost's amazing career has focused on industrial design. The son of a commercial potter, Schreckengost learned the craft of sculpting clay from his father.
Starting in the mid-1930s, he turned his attention to industrial design, and he is the last surviving figure from the first age of modern industrial design. Some of Schreckengost's creations are bicycles, dinnerware, riding lawn mowers, streetlights, strollers, wagons, chairs, mobile equipment, lighting systems and presses.
He is equally celebrated for his watercolors, sculptures, sketches and ceramics.
Nationwide, 100 venues are showing The Viktor Schreckengost National Centennial Celebration through June 26.
Drumm
The grandson of a blacksmith and the son of a welder/mechanic, Don Drumm credits his creative interests to his heritage. Throughout his career as a sculptor/designer, he has explored the use of contemporary metals, machinery and technology to make fine art.
His work enhances the environments of homes, public parks, businesses, museums and city skylines throughout the United States. Corporate commissions have taken his artwork to every world continent. His studios and gallery on Crouse Street in Akron feature the handcrafted work of more than 500 North American artists.
Franta
Painting in the traditional American style and on location whenever possible, Tom Franta is well-known for his soft paintings that depict Stark County landmarks. He also produced a series of wintertime scenes for holiday greeting cards for The Rotary Club of Canton.
The North Canton native inherited his talent from his mother, an art teacher, and his father, a sign painter for Canton Sign Company.
Pernotto
A Youngstown native, James Pernotto grew up during the 1950s and '60s, integrating into his consciousness the visual experience of the city's infernolike industrial landscape created by its working steel mills. That landscape and components of his Catholic upbringing were stimuli to which he would respond later in life as an artist.
Pernotto recently returned home to mount a 25-year retrospective of his work at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown.