Photo, design exhibit shows the potential of Valley brownfields

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

An artists reception for “Visions of Potential,” a photo and design exhibition that shows the potential of abandoned industrial sites in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, will take place Saturday at M Gallery, 112 W. Commerce St., where it will be on display through March 18.

The reception will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. at the downtown gallery.

“Visions of Potential” also presents brownfield revitalization as a public outreach project.

The show is a collaboration between the Western Reserve Port Authority as the leading partner of the Trumbull County Brownfield Coalition, Trumbull Art Gallery, Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative and M Gallery.

It features work by regional artists Melanie Rae Buonavolonta, Sarah Bokone, Adam Gregory, Carl Paul Henneman, DeShawn Scott and James Shuttic.

Additionally on view are designs by urban-planning graduate students Sam Friesema, Kevin Sweetland, Sara Weber, Loaei Thabet, Alena Miller and Taylor Firestine.

“The show evokes the sense of loss experienced when these industries became part of history,” said Johanna George, director of the gallery and curator of the exhibition. “By documenting the contrast of what was and what could be, it also creates a strong sense of hope.”

Photography from the exhibit was first shown as an exhibit titled “Urban Opportunity” in September at Trumbull Art Gallery. That show was organized by gallery director William Mullane and the WRPA, with funding provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Visions of Potential” includes designs created by graduate students of Ball State University, Lawrence Technological University and Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (CUDC), partner schools during the 2015 Midwest Design Charrette, which took place at M Gallery in October. The students toured sites for redevelopment in Youngstown to visualize the potential of those areas and created strategies and renderings that were presented to stakeholders and the public.

The charrette – a meeting of interested parties – came to fruition after Youngstown State University’s Regional Economic Development Initiative and the city of Youngstown successfully applied for the highly competitive event. The designs focus on Hazel and Phelps, two key streets that terminate at the Wean United redevelopment site. The designs provide a much-needed reinterpretation of existing and potential redevelopment.

Other collaborating partners for the exhibition include the Trumbull County Brownfield Coalition, Howland Township, the city of Warren, the Trumbull County Planning Commission, former Struthers mayor Dan Mamula and the Youngstown Economic Action Group.

M Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 1 to 7 p.m.; and by appointment.