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YSU students assist in mural revival
YSU students give North Side building a good brushing-up
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Paint, elbow grease and artistry combine to restore a piece of North Side character.
Youngstown State University fine-arts students Valerie Nichols, Evan James and Derek Dickey are refurbishing a mural on a building next to Avalon Gardens on Belmont Avenue.
“We’re restoring it, but we’re adding our own spin to it too,” said James, of Boardman.
Jim Donofrio, who formerly worked in commercial real estate, bought the 90-year-old Avalon and the adjacent brick building in January as a new career venture.
The art project started when Nichols and James, Avalon regulars, were having lunch.
“I came in to apply for a waitressing job when Jim and I started talking about the mural,” said Nichols, of Austintown.
He asked if she knew anyone who might be able to do the project. She talked to her friends and they all signed on.
The three YSU seniors have worked on projects together before and believe their styles and strengths are complimentary.
Donofrio initially thought about demolishing the adjacent building but opted to renovate instead.
He looked at the mural and thought that should be restored too. The original was painted about 15 years ago by artist Terry Fetchet, depicting Avalon regulars of that time surrounded by a scene like Mulberry Street in New York City.
“I wanted to give people something nice to look at in this section of the North Side,” Donofrio said.
The students started working on the mural this summer and are about two-thirds done. They hope to complete the piece — between classes, studying and their jobs — before the weather turns.
While they’re doing the work, which demands the use of scaffolding because of the size, people stop to inquire about it. They say they’ll keep checking in to watch the progress, Nichols said.
“I’m very pleased with it so far,” Donofrio said. “It’s coming alive.”
Most of the faces on the people on the mural were washed out, leaving it to the students to recreate them. They also tried to add depth to the work.
Nichols started with a sketch, planning how they wanted the finished product to look.
Before the artistry, though, came the sweat.
They had to wash the brick building to get rid of 15 years of grime.
“The hardest part was the grout — getting in there and scraping it out,” said Dickey, of Canfield.
They use exterior acrylic paint to revive the piece, bringing life to the characters and color to the scene.
When it’s finished, they’d like to work on other large-scale projects such as the mural at the entrance of the Idora Neighborhood.
“In bigger cities, you see a lot of murals,” James said. “It’s a sign of revitalization. That’s something we all have an interest in. We have a lot of pride in the area.”