Take pride in and respect public art in Youngstown

The value of public art in a community stretches far beyond the contours of what initially meets the eye.

High-visibility outdoor paintings, monuments, murals, statues and other creative artworks placed in high-traffic spaces also can serve many practical functions. They can promote a vibrant arts scene, stimulate tourism and perhaps, most importantly, help build a singular and vibrant sense of identity for a city on the move.

With those artistic and civic benefits in mind, we’re heartened by the explosion in public art displays throughout downtown Youngstown this summer.

Thanks to some tightly-focused and multipartnered planning led by the Youngstown State University College of Creative Arts and Communication, the new public-art project called INPLACE – Innovative Plan for Leveraging Arts through Community Engagement – has won a hearty endorsement from the National Endowment for the Arts – complete with a $100,000 grant to implement it.

The award clearly speaks to the ongoing value of the NEA, which unsuccessfully had been targeted for virtual extinction by the administration of President Donald J. Trump. The award also speaks to the creative distinction of the proposal and the high-caliber input from such partners as YSU, the city of Youngstown, Cleveland Design Collaborative, Kent State University School of Architecture, various Mahoning Valley philanthropic foundations and others.

The eye-pleasing products of that collaboration already are taking shape throughout the downtown area. Most of the projects not only enhance the aesthetic appeal of the city but also feature a dash of practical applications.

Take, for example, the recently completed Wedge at Hazel Hill, one of the five projects receiving $20,000 of the NEA grant. That green-space artwork at North Hazel Street next to the Youngstown Historical Center for Business and Industry, better known as The Steel Museum, includes a 15-foot-wide wooden stage that can be used for performances as well as for landscaping, including as a rain-collection system.

SOLAR SCREEN AT VINDICATOR

Solar Screen, an attractive and enlightening public artwork, has taken up residence in our grassy front yard at Front Street and Vindicator Square. There, a 7-foot-tall sleek curved wall and monument has been constructed with 144 creatively designed 3-dimensional ceramic bricks, each of which includes a solar light panel. At night, the wall will illuminate the southwestern edge of downtown with a singularly Youngstown touch – technology straight out of the world-renowned America Makes center just two blocks away.

The three other projects sharing in the NEA award are:

Shipping Container Bus Shelter. A shipping container will be cut apart and reassembled, painted and fabricated as a sculpture to function as a bus shelter on the sidewalk in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse.

Light the Community. Seventh-grade students from Valley Christian School’s Lewis School for Gifted Learning will install a public Shadow Art Stage and project shadow art and community messages on the south side of the newly renovated City Hall Annex building.

Mahoning Avenue Archway. The project will use visual art to transform an abandoned railway arch along Mahoning Avenue into a visually appealing gateway to downtown and adjacent neighborhoods.

Collectively, these five projects will build stronger character and identity for the downtown. But the INPLACE project has even loftier goals. As Mike Crist, interim dean of the YSU College of Creative Arts and Communications and one of the authors of the grant application, explained, “This project is not limited to the creation and distribution of art but will act as an exploratory arm for community, economic and cultural development.”

Yet all of those attributes can be lessened or eroded if the community fails to give the artworks the pride and respect they are due. We remember all too well the vandalism suffered by “The Steel Makers” monument on West Federal Street by renowned sculptor George Segal before it was spruced up and took up permanent residence at the Steel Museum.

The public artworks deserve our care and reverence, not only because they serve as a complement to downtown’s ongoing renaissance but also as a catalyst for similar constructive and creative projects throughout the Mahoning Valley.