YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The works of the late Jim Lepore and other notable Mahoning Valley artists will be displayed in an exhibition Sunday in the Knox Building, downtown.
Lepore, of Canfield, died June 24 at age 91. He was a professor of art at Youngstown State University for 40 years and taught or influenced many artists during his career.
The exhibition and open house will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. on the second floor of the Knox Building, 110 W. Federal St. Guests can enter through The Federal restaurant, which has been renamed Miracle on Federal for the holiday season.
The exhibition will feature works by Lepore and some of his colleagues and former students who died in recent years, including Al Bright, Frederick Molden, Scott Pergande, Sarena Polite, Maple Turner III and Chris Yambar.
It will also include works by local artists who were influenced by these artists, including Eric Alleman, Nicole Emery, Michael Green, Jimmy Lepore Hagan, Lezlie J. Morris, Jim Pernotto, Daniel Rauschenbach, Jason Van Hoose and Dylan Weaver.
There will also be a remembrance of the late Dan Celio and Joe and Mary Harver at the exhibition, which will follow a 1 p.m. memorial service for Lepore at The Butler Institute of American Art.
Lepore, the father of fashion designer Nanette Lepore and former state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan, graduated from North High School in 1949.
He graduated from Youngstown College with a bachelor’s degree in art education, and went on to earn a Master of Science degree in art education from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University.
Before his time at YSU, he taught at Hillman Junior High School and South High School, both in Youngstown.
The open house at the Knox Building is being presented by Jacob Harver, who selected the artists for the exhibition based on their aesthetic significance and influence on the art world.
Lepore and Bright were professors at YSU “at a high point for the university and its art department,” Harver said. “Beyond their prolificness as artists, they instructed countless others, including most of the artists featured in this show,” Harver said. The reputation of the YSU art program lured other talented artists, such as Pergande, and shaped the talents of Youngstowners such as Turner and Molden, he said.
“As a group, these artists kept the cultural community alive amidst the collapse of the steel industry and the slow decay of the city,” Harver said. “It’s important at this time to honor their legacies, as the drastic cuts to the humanities [courses] at YSU and the gentrification of downtown, including the loss of the Ward Bakery Building artists, threaten the magic of the city.”
Pictured at top: Works by Youngstown artists are readied for display at the Knox Building.