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Davis Family YMCA art show features 289 pieces by 113 local artists
BOARDMAN
Until John Patter- son joined the Davis Family YMCA in 2008, he had never taken an art class.
After his death in March, a friend found more than 70 paintings and dozens of painted wood carvings among the Youngstown man’s possessions.
Patterson was one of numerous local artists who got their start through the YMCA, where arts and humanities coordinator Suzanne Gray teaches.
Many of those same artists are featured in the Davis Family YMCA’s fourth annual “But I Know What I Like” art show that’s on display through Nov. 20.
This year’s show – which features 289 pieces by 113 local artists – is dedicated to Patterson, who in many ways embodied the show’s inclusive spirit.
The display is open to any adult in the Mahoning Valley, whether they are amateur, emerging or professional artists. Unlike many other art shows, BIKWIL accepts and displays all entries, and is judged by nonartists. Hence the name: You may not know much about art, but you know what you like.
That’s what Gray believes sets it apart from others.
“Most art shows, you send your images in, and then a judge will say, ‘Yes you’re in,’ or ‘No you’re not.’ This one, you come, you drop off your art, and you’re in,” she said. “I personally think that anybody can make art, and everyone’s art should be accepted at face value. There is no other show that I know of, other than the Canfield Fair, where absolute amateurs have just as much of a chance to win a prize.”
Take, for example, Kristina Rule, who started painting several years ago in one of Gray’s classes. Now, Rule is an emerging artist who participates in the YMCA’s art-outreach program that brings programs to places such as the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley.
Rule was one of three artists to win BIKWIL’s jurors’ choice award for her “McGuffey Morning” oil painting, a soft, idyllic nature scene.
“That makes me feel like a proud mama,” said Gray of her proteges’ success.
Anthony Greier won the show’s top prize for his “Winter Self Portrait,” a stark, head-on view of a bearded Greier seated at a table lit softly by a lamp.
Amateurs, too, took home some prizes. Linda Grimm, for example, won an honorable mention for her “Barn Cat” photograph.
Also featured in the show is Matt Young, the first recipient of the John Patterson Memorial Scholarship.
Thanks to a $900 donation from Four Mile Run Christian Church, where Patterson left some savings, the Davis Family YMCA is able to provide art scholarships to adults with disabilities. Patterson lived with Asperger syndrome, a developmental disorder that inhibits social interactions and communication.
The Y also awarded a “John Patterson Creativity Award” this year. The winner was Brandon Benson for his “Creation of Llama” painting, a take on Michelangelo’s famous “Creation of Adam” painting. Benson has a series of llama-theme recreations of famous works of art.
BIKWIL also features prominent local artists, such as Don Wright. Gray noted that those connections with well-known artists is mutually beneficial. Those artists often end up donating artwork to benefit the Y, for example.
Some of the BIKWIL art is for sale. Also, visitors can cast votes for BIKWIL’s people’s choice awards through Oct. 30.