YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – “Touched by Rauschenberg: The Art of Eric Forstmann, Don Gummer, Diana Levinson and Robert Rauschenberg” will open Sunday, June 8, at The Butler Institute of American Art and run through Aug. 24.

An opening day reception will take place from 1-3 p.m.

This exhibition features the art of Rauschenberg and three artists who admired and celebrated him.

The idea for the exhibition started in 2023 when Jane Coats Eckert of Eckert Fine Art approached Louis Zona, The Butler’s executive director, about creating an exhibition on the art of Rauschenberg, whom they both knew personally for many years.

Forstmann, of Connecticut, has had one-man shows at The Butler and other museums, and his work has been featured in art fairs in several cities.

Gummer is an American sculptor best known for his large outdoor works.

Levinson is a Los Angeles-based painter who is known for her large-scale canvases and intricate etchings. She is married to filmmaker Barry Levinson.

“The influence that Robert Rauschenberg has had on entire generations of artists is impressive, to say the least,” Zona said. “It is beyond introducing a universe of materials which he turned into what became his ‘combines,’ inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s Ready Mades. In using materials cast off from society, he led the way toward Pop Art, Conceptual Art, Minimalism and even the New Realism.”

Rauschenberg’s long association with his mentor, Marcell Duchamp, would transform the art world in dramatic fashion.

“But he would also provide a generation of artists with creative juices that carried them into and through art movements of postwar America,” Zona continued. “Artists such as Eric Forstmann, Diana Levinson and Don Gummer are outstanding examples of that magic touch which Rauschenberg regularly delivered to so many artists of the era. His brilliance knew no boundaries.”

Jane Coats Eckert, guest curator, acknowledged most people know Rauschenberg as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. 

While that is indisputable, to Eckert, he was much more.

“Beyond his talent as a groundbreaking artist was an inquisitive, witty and charismatic man who I was lucky enough to call a friend,” she said.

Forstmann said Rauschenberg’s work  “was, is and will be singular in the influence and permission given to generations of artists. Myself included.”

Gummer pointed out that Rauschenberg used  everyday images and objects to make compositions that are “beautiful, mysterious, topical, thoughtful and ironic.”

Levinson said she always admired how Rauschenberg brought painting and printmaking together in a fluid way. “That openness to materials, to contradictions, to the unexpected has stayed with me,” she said.

This exhibition is in The Butler’s Bacon Wing, Bacon Grand Gallery and John MacIntosh Galleries.

Art Project in Dave Grohl Alley Is Complete

WARREN, Ohio – A yearlong public art project in Dave Grohl Alley, downtown, will be unveiled at 7 p.m. Friday, June 8.

The community mural was made possible through a collaboration between Brite Energy Innovators, which received a grant from the Ohio Arts Council, and the Helms Foundation, which collaborated with the community to design the tiles that comprise the mural.

The mural enhances the entry and visibility of Dave Grohl Alley. The project used an inclusive engagement process to design and create the mural on the east side of Brite’s building that connects with the alley. 

According to Terri DiGennaro, Helms Foundation founder and CEO, the nonprofit participated in several events over this past year at which people created a personalized, handmade tile for the project. “Each tile is unique, but when put together, a beautiful sunset is created,” she said.

First Friday Activities Moved to Penguin City

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Today’s First Friday event has been moved to Penguin City Brewing due to the threat of rain and will still include chalk drawing on the floor.

More than 25 artists have signed up to participate in four categories: professional, adult, high school, and middle school. There will be an open chalking area for any walk-in chalk artists who haven’t registered. Prizes will be awarded.

Additional entertainment will include:

  • 5-8 p.m.: Dinner Theater Rejects comedy troupe, Penguin City.
  • 8 p.m.: Rock bands Sedona, Meddle and Jack and the Cadavers, Penguin City.
  • 7:30 p.m.: Bob DiPiero, American Made Songwriter Series, DeYor Performing Arts Center.
  • 5-9 p.m.: Art by Chauncey Hay and music by Jimgnostic, St. John’s Episcopal Church.
  • 8 p.m.: Idora and the Wildcats, Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre.

Family Fun Day at Warren-Trumbull Library

WARREN, Ohio – Trumbull County Historical Society and Warren-Trumbull County Public Library will present their annual Family Day and Summer Reading Kick-Off Challenge from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 7, at the Warren Library, 444 Mahoning Ave.

This free community event will include arts and crafts, Warren police and fire vehicles and free food.

Point 5K Race Is Accepting Participants

CANFIELD, Ohio – The Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley invites participants of all fitness levels to join one of the most fun and shortest races around – the Point 5K (so named because it is just 0.5 kilometers, or 1,640 feet).

The event will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 12, at White House Fruit Farm. Participants will enjoy a route around the farm’s grounds and pond – with a doughnut stop at the halfway point.

Registration is $5 and includes an official Point 5K window cling. Register HERE.

Those who want to become a fundraiser can sign up at RunSignup.com (click donate and select become a fundraiser).

Every dollar raised helps provide food, shelter and hope to those experiencing homelessness in the Mahoning Valley.

Point 5K T-shirts can be purchased HERE for $5.

For information, contact the rescue mission’s Development Department at 330 744 5485, ext. 506, or email 2ndchance@rescuemissionmv.org.

Pictured at top; Robert Rauschenberg’s “Intimate Cypher.”