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Five projects are picked to beautify downtown area
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
A shipping container made into a bus shelter, art projected onto the City Hall Annex building and a solar screen made out of 3-D-printed bricks are among the five community projects selected for funding under a $100,000 grant.
The National Endowment for the Arts issued the grant to Youngstown State University earlier this year for the beautification of the downtown area.
The project is the Innovative Plan for Leveraging Arts Through Community Engagement – INPLACE – initiative.
The INPLACE initiative received 15 project proposals from which a panel selected five to receive $20,000 each. The panel members were Dominic Marchionda, R.J. Thompson, Leslie Brothers, Nick Chretian, Terry Schwarz and Quilian Riano of the INPLACE support group; Claudia Berlinski of YSU’s College of Creative Arts and Communication, and John Noga of the McDonough Museum of Art.
Brothers said it was difficult to narrow the 15 projects down to five because they were all so good. “We commend all of the teams for meeting the unusual challenges of the project — first to work in teams of three or more and then to embrace five placemaking themes with genuine caring for the community,” she said. “It has been a moving and rewarding experience.”
The five projects will be presented to the public at a reception at Covelli Centre from 5 to 7 p.m. March 3. All 15 projects, with video recordings of each presentation, will be on view at the McDonough Museum of Art at YSU, from June 2 to July 9.
The projects are:
Shipping Container Bus Shelter. A shipping container will be cut apart and reassembled, painted and fabricated as a sculpture that will also function as a bus shelter. It will be placed in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse. Team members are Tony Armeni, Ed Macabobby and Daniel Newman.
Light the Community. Seventh-grade students from Valley Christian School’s Lewis School for Gifted Learning will install a public shadow art stage along the alley on the south side of the City Hall Annex building. From this stage, announcements and art, in the form of shadows, will be projected on to the south side of the Annex building, and be visible from the Market Street bridge. The art will complement the amphitheater which will be built in the area. Team members are Angelo LaMarca, Rick Blair, Kaydin Brown, Vito Colella, Grace Cummings, Pendleton Evans, Gabby Johnson, Pat Kelly, AJ Morris, Katie Murray, Elion Oliver and Ian Scheetz.
Solar Screen. The screen is a curved, vertical surface that will be positioned to follow the path of the sun. Assembled out of large ceramic “bricks” made by a 3-D printer that are mortared together, the bricks will have openings that vary in size, allowing light and air to pass through the structure. Team members are Brian Peters, Daphne Peters and Missy McCormick.
The Wedge at Hazel Hill. This will create a greenspace at the hillside area on Hazel Street where YSU and downtown Youngstown meet. Team members are Annissa Neider, Courtney Boyle, Joshua Boyle, Sarah DelliQuadri, Gabriella Gessler, Tyler Miller-Gordon, Andrew Boyle, Katy Collins, Michael Pontikos, Stephanie Weigel, Austin J. Hilt, Leigh A. Greene, Julius Oliver and Brendan Boyle.
Mahoning Avenue Archway. An massive, unused concrete railway arch that crosses Mahoning Avenue will be lit to visually enhance this downtown gateway, using the infrastructure of the city’s industrial past. Team members are David Tamulonis, Eric Carlson and Ian Beniston.