WARREN — The Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County will start 2025 with a new concept for its first exhibition of the year at Art on Park.

It’s also the first exhibition there where a Konika Minolta color copier gets billing as one of the contributors.

“Wallpaper on Park” is a curatorial experiment by Dovey Wuvey, the name David Wheeler uses to create his own work and curate shows for others.

The idea started as a way to make it easier for artists outside of the area to participate in the non-juried exhibitions Art on Park hosts every other month.

“If you’re going to enter an art show in Warren, that requires three drives, three round trip drives to Warren to drop off your work, then to come to the opening, then for artwork pickup,” Wheeler said. “That’s a lot of driving if you’re an artist in Cleveland or Pittsburgh or Akron. Because of that, we don’t get a lot of out-of-town artists interested in our shows. I’ve always wanted to make a show that’s super easy to be a part of, even if you don’t want to make the drive.”

Wheeler also wanted to explore different ways to display photography. Those images tend to be framed and displayed behind glass. Different artists use different frames, which can clash in a group show, and the glass can create a glare on the image, depending upon the gallery’s lighting and the angle it is being viewed.

For “Wallpaper on Park,” artists were invited to email an image of their work and pay a $5 entry fee.

“It really doesn’t matter what kind of work you do,” Wheeler said. “If you’re a sculptor, you just take a picture of your sculpture. If you’re a photographer, then you already have all those images in your files. If you’re a painter, you photograph the painting.”

Wheeler used the entry fee to have the electronic images professionally printed and then took those prints to the Konika Minolta color copier.

“There will be multiples of an individual’s work, and those might be printed off in black and white or in cyan or magenta or some combination thereof,” he said. “And, as I did that, I learned that the copier kind of has its own quirks, which added a different dimension to the reproductions.”

Those multiple images then will cover gallery walls and meld with the images of the other artists.

“My idea was definitely to kind of make one piece out of many,” Wheeler said. “I’m not taking any credit for it as an artist. To me, it’s not my art piece. It’s all these individuals’ art pieces. But it’ll definitely look like a quilt. It’ll look like a big quilt, because there isn’t any space between. There are no labels.”

Participating artists are: James Shuttic, Nef M., Sarah Fenton-Niehorster, Daniel Hardy, Sara Lee Rose, Jeffrey Puccini, Samandra Lynne, Kristina Rule, Bethany Gregory, Jim Owens, Heart Eyes, Jersey Hogue, Linda Visconi, Jessica Mackey, Terry Polonsky, Amanda Plume, Amber Howard, Stephanie Stearns, Christina Medusa, Sarah Sharber, Susan Griffin, Carmen Denno, Julie Martin, Michelle Davis and Nancy McCloskey.

One of the main goals of Wallpaper on Park — attracting outside artists — didn’t happen. Wheeler got only one submission from an out-of-state artist. But it’s a concept he said he definitely will revisit in the future.

Also on display will be mixed media works incorporating painting and collage by recent Youngstown State University graduate Dejiiva Oliver.

An opening reception is planned from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Art on Park, 180 N. Park Ave., Warren, that will feature live ambient noise / sound by Golden Ray Complex, aka Michael Mirror, using synthesizer, guitar, effects and contact microphone.

Admission is free.

If you go …

WHAT: “Wallpaper on Park”

WHEN: 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Art on Park, 180 N. Park Ave., Warren

HOW MUCH: Admission is free.