Underground Art Club fulfills dream, sells Youngstown pride
BOARDMAN
Darius McLaughlin wanted a place to not only do art, but to teach art and sell his art.
The new Underground Art Club store inside Southern Park Mall, which he started with four other local artists, hits all of those marks.
Art of all kinds — paintings, pictures, silk-screened shirts and air-brushed shirts — line the walls and parts of the floor inside the Underground Art Club’s storefront.
On a Monday morning, a local artist, is airbrushing an “OHIYO” shirt.
“People come in and they love it,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin co-owns the shop with Mykale White, Dujuan Artist, Sana Khan and Mike Davis. All are artists and friends driven to bring a creative, artsy hub to the Mahoning Valley.
“We call ourselves the one-stop-shop for the culture,” White said.
McLaughlin has been an artist of sorts his whole life. He grew up in the Valley, graduating from Boardman High School in 2005. He went on to Pittsburgh Art Institute with hopes of making it big in animation, but the expense of school became too much.
“I went through a rough patch,” he said.
He specializes in animation, video game design, heat press, silk screening, decals, murals and a laundry list of other artistic ventures.
He makes shirts to show off his Youngstown pride.
Read more about him and the Art Club in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.