Youngstown artist Maple Turner III will show a sampling of his work in an exhibition opening Sunday at the Butler Institute of American Art. (Submitted photo)

Maple Turner III remembered going to the Butler Institute of American Art when he was 6 years old and being enchanted by the John Singer Sargeant painting “Mrs. Arthur Knowles and Her Two Sons.”

“I looked at the painting and said, ‘One day you’re going to be an artist,'” Turner said.

Sixty-three years later, Turner will have a solo exhibition in the museum that inspired him to start creating. “Maple Turner III: The Journey 1969-2023” will open Sunday at the Butler, and it’s one of two exhibitions planed there to celebrate Black History Month. “Billy Gerard Frank: Eulogies & Palimpsests” will open Feb. 5.

“To get into the Butler is a great honor,” Turner said.

Turner’s path to becoming an artist wasn’t a straight one. After graduating from East High School in 1969, he spent 11 years working in the steel mills as a pipe inspector.

When the mills closed, he eventually went to college to study art and theater, earning a degree from Youngstown State University in 1999. He then became the first YSU student to be accepted at Parsons School of Design, and he earned his master’s degree from City College of New York.

He’s lived and painted in New York and Paris, but he returned to Youngstown to care for his ailing parents and a nephew, all three of whom are now deceased.

“The Journey” is aptly named, spanning Turner’s artistic career, from work he created at East High School that was awarded a Gold Key in the Scholastics Art Exhibition in 1969 up to recent creations. He’s worked in various media throughout his life, including watercolors, acrylics, ink, collage and photography.

“It took me about two weeks to pick the pictures at the Butler,” said Turner, who has created thousands of works in his lifetime.

In the press release for the exhibition, Butler Executive Director Louis A. Zona said Turner’s talent level is in the elite category.

“They used to say about the artist Robert Rauschenberg that he would go into a closet and in 20 minutes could come out with a work of art,” Zona said. “The same could said of Maple Turner. He possesses that level of skill and creativity.”

Turner, 69, always has been driven to create. When money was tight in college, he would take paper from the post office and use discarded Jell-O from the cafeteria in place of watercolors to create paintings.

He continues to paint today, even after four strokes, the last of which initially left him without use of his arms. Treatment and therapy restored the use of his limbs.

“That’s how I’m still able to paint,” he said. “I do little pictures now. I used to be on scaffolds and create these huge pieces.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Maple Turner III: The Journey 1969-2023”

WHEN: Sunday through Feb. 26, with meet-the-artist reception from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown.

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to www.butlerart.com or call 330-743-1107.