Robyn E. Maas called Tony Armeni “Mr. Youngstown.”

“You go anywhere with Tony and somebody knows him or he already knows a dozen people there,” Maas said.

Many of them are fellow artists or former students of Armeni, who taught for 31 years as an adjunct professor at Youngstown State University. Some are customers who have bought a birdbath or a metal sculpture he created.

Others know him as a musician, playing experimental jazz at Cedars West End or as a horn player with Sacksville Rhythm & Blues.

Maas is bringing together all of those factions for “Arcs/Angles/Sound,” which opens Saturday at Trumbull Art Gallery. Not only will the exhibition feature Armeni’s work, but it also will include pieces by 35 of Armeni’s friends, colleagues and former students.

The idea for the show was hatched by TAG Gallery Director William Mullane and Lit Youngstown Director Karen Schubert at a 2024 exhibition celebrating the work of longtime YSU art professor James Lucas, who died in 2020.

“YSU doesn’t have retirement parties or anything for adjuncts,” Maas said. “Why not have kind of like a retirement exhibition?”

Armeni was wary initially.

“I don’t feel like I’m a figure like my mentors are,” he said. “Jim Lucas was one of my mentors, so I don’t know if I’m worthy of this. Then, after it sunk in for a little while, I thought, yeah, this is a good idea. If you’re going to have something like that to honor my work, might as well do it while I’m still alive.”

Armeni no longer is teaching, but he certainly hasn’t retired. Armeni is one of the artists who was displaced when the Ward Bakery Building on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown was sold last year, but his new studio has more space and triggered a burst of creativity.

“I’ve had some really productive months, so most of the work (shown at TAG) is from the last half year,” Armeni said.

Because of Armeni’s passion for art and music, Maas invited artists to submit works that had a sound component, which is commonplace in his sculptures.

“A lot of the kinetic work that I’ve done, sound has always been an element, and even some of the work that’s not motorized,” Armeni said. “Things move, and they make sound, not that it’s necessarily melodic. But it can be, depending on how you manipulate a form.

“Art and music are like hand in hand,. There’s a tall piece called ‘Sail,’ and you can manipulate the two vertical elements, and they’re like flying into one another. If you’re a percussionist, and you have any sense of rhythm or coordination, you can play the thing and hammer out a rhythm … Some of the stuff I don’t build it in intentionally; it just happens.”

Artists’ submissions that incorporate sound include video installations, a drum and a work that uses a sheet of metal and a microphone to create vibrations.

In addition to Armeni, participating artists include: Tony Amrich, Steph Blair, Nea Bristol, Shaye Cahill, Carole Conatser, Jim Conti, Dragana Crnjak, Shawn Crum, Thomas Cvetkovich, Michelle Davis, Lindsay DeLullo, Joseph D’Uva, Terence Fetchet, Michael Green, Ed Hallahan, Kathryn Infante, Connie Kolarik, Carl Leet, Adrien Lucas, Missy McCormick, Elise McKeown Skolnick, Mia Mondora, William Mullane, Tony Nicholas, John Guy Petruzzi, Max Scabilloni, Tracy Segreti, Dana Sperry, Gary Taneri, Abbey Wendle, Dovey Wuvey, Summer Zickafoose, Bryn Zellers and Joseph Zordich.

“There’s everything from somebody that just knows Tony from taking yoga classes with him to students who he played an important role in their development,” Maas said. “I have four YSU professors. I have a Westminster (College) faculty member. I’m really happy to have so many of his teaching colleagues.”

The exhibit runs through June 27, and an opening reception is planned from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Armeni said he is looking forward to, “Just hanging out and visiting with my friends, seeing some former students I haven’t seen in a while, my former colleagues at YSU. I run into maybe one of two of those folks maybe once a year … I’m just lucky to be in a community of thriving artists. This is a pretty vital scene.”

Staff photo / Andy Gray
Curator Robyn E. Maas talks about Tony Armeni’s work while installing the “Arcs/Angles/Sound” exhibition on Tuesday at Trumbull Art Gallery.