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Show provides feedback for artists
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Artists, left to right, Nikki Mehle of Canfield, Hailey Snow of Youngstown, Valerie Nichols of Austintown, Ben Belgrad of Boardman, Jessica Grizinski of Boardman and Justin Reese of Youngstown stand with their artwork displayed at the Art Outreach Gallery.
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From left, Halley Snow of Youngstown, Nikki Mehle of Canfi eld and Justin Reese of Youngstown chat around their artwork displayed at the Art Outreach Gallery at Eastwood Mall. Their teacher is Kathy Young.
Background: Gail Stark, chairman of the board of the gallery, a 501(c)3 organization, said the gallery opened in November 2006. It evolved from an abstract idea by a group of women who organized youth art events. Stark said the group sought a place for the gallery and the Cafaro Co., offered a place in the Eastwood Mall in Niles.
Exhibits: The gallery has featured some 15,000 pieces of artwork from preschoolers to seniors in high school. Also on display are entries in Trumbull County Bar Association annual art show.
Workshops: A summer workshop involving 150 children is under way and offers a variety of classes.
Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays, 1 to 9 p.m. Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.
Contact info: Website is artoutreach.org and phone, 330-219-7833.
By LINDA M. LINONIS
NILES
Students of Kathy Young’s milled about the Art Outreach Gallery in the Eastwood Mall on Sunday afternoon, talking among themselves and to family and visitors.
The teacher said the artists reception provided an opportunity for students to hear and see reactions to their artwork from the public. “It’s a learning experience,” she said of the show, where students can sell their works or obtain a commission for a special piece of artwork.
The “Reunion Show,” featuring some 100 pieces of art, runs through Aug. 1.
Young is an art instructor at Music Lessons for Us All, 1 N. Main St., Poland, started by Victoria Auth more than a decade ago. Young said Auth wanted the music studio to offer art. Young teaches private lessons there.
“It’s about what interests them,” Young said of the young artists’ subject matter. “I pull out the best.”
Young said she has been teaching art a “very, very long time,” but continues to be intrigued and impressed by students. And she’s also touched by them. She noted one student said of participation in art class, “I feel like I fit in somewhere.”
Young said the idea of the misunderstood artist isn’t that far-fetched. “Artists think a bit differently than other people,” Young said. “We talk about that.”
Valerie Nichols of Austintown, a fine-arts major at Youngstown State University, would like to make a career of her art. “I’d love to be able to make money and do what I love,” she said.
One of her pieces, “Easter 199x,” is a memory of an aunt, who recently passed away, holding a cake. “I like to do faces,” she said of the artwork that shows a woman with a surprised expression.
Nikki Mehle, a recent Canfield High School graduate and student at Cleveland Institute of Art, hopes to use her artistic talent to help people through art therapy. “I love to use color. The appeal is in the color,” she said.
“Spring,” executed in ink and bleach, shows the contrast of a spring-flowering trees and obsolete machinery in disrepair.
Halley Snow of Youngstown, also a fine-arts student at YSU, said she often works in pencil and oils. “I like to capture the personality of people,” she said. “I want it to be accurate ... I keep at it until it’s perfect.”
Snow said the exhibit is a good opportunity for young artists. She said people have seen her work, and she’s gotten commissions. Snow said she also uses the Internet, MySpace and Facebook to market her art.
Ben Belgrad of Boardman, a marine-science major at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., said he was inspired by his father when it comes to art.
Much of his subject matter is nature and landscapes using acrylics or pencil. About one landscape scene he said, “It’s life ... you take the good with the bad ... you can’t have one without the other.
“The bad helps us appreciate the good.”
Belgrad said he hoped his art “helps people appreciate the beauty of the world around us.”
Jessica Grizinski, a recent graduate of Mercer County Career and Technical Center with a certificate in early-childhood education, said she has been creating art “since I could pick up a pencil.”
“I like to focus on people ... and get really detailed,” she said, noting she wanted her art to be expressive.
Other students of Young’s in the show are Salem Reese and Justin Reese, graduates of Columbus College of Art and Design.