Norma Wright of Youngstown, whose interest in art dates to her childhood, holds a Frank Morrison piece called “Black Lives Matter,” which is one of about 250 works she has collected that are in her home.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday.com or metro edi

YOUNGSTOWN — A tour of Norma Wright’s three-story restored home reveals a series of colorful artistic works that serve as metaphors that capture portraits of her diverse lifestyle and activism.

“I’ve had an art interest since I was a kid,” said Wright, 70, who grew up on Youngstown’s East Side. “My mother did day work and at age 6, my sister took me to the public library, and my love of books and art came.”

The Greenwood, Miss., native and 1969 graduate of The Rayen School didn’t wait for her interest in all things art to grow, however. Instead, she pursued and cultivated it by establishing herself in New York City soon after receiving her high school diploma. The move 400 miles east exposed her to numerous galleries such as the Museum of Modern Art, Wright said.

Her passion, though, didn’t translate into a career in art, but the two were not separate, either. At age 18, Wright got a job with a New York-based insurance agency, at which time a man advised the teen to educate herself on black artists and writers, she recalled, part of which gave her the impetus to visit a variety of museums that “opened up my world,” she explained.

Wright also attended Cornell University for two years, followed by Hunter College and Bronx Community College, both in New York, before earning a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix, where she taught online courses such as health care management. During that time, she also developed a deep interest in studying the Holocaust and other major aspects of history.

After returning to Youngstown, Wright threw herself into community-improvement projects, in part by becoming active for several years with the Know Your Neighbor Block Watch program on the North Side, as well as via providing activities for area children to steer them in positive directions. In addition to preventing crime, the nonprofit block watch works mainly with children during the summer, noted Joyce Davidson, who’s been with Know Your Neighbor about 20 years.

“She is a beautiful person who’s always giving back to the kids,” Davidson said about Wright, who taught a class for children about groundskeeping last summer on Zoom, because of the pandemic, as part of the block watch’s program, “Think Big, Little One,” Davidson said.

Wright’s activism exposed the children to the Butler Institute of American Art and other cultural opportunities. They also pitched in by participating in cleanups of lots that Know Your Neighbor had leased through the Mahoning County Land Bank, Davidson noted.

Wright’s work geared at helping others extended far beyond the Valley, however.

She also was a change agent as a consultant for struggling health care companies in Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis and New York City. The longtime art and history lover worked largely to revamp Medicaid offices, family shelters and clinics, as well as to improve management-employee relations, she explained.

Today, it’s easy to take in some of the many paintings, drawings and pencil sketches in her home by notable black artists and see small snapshots of her life.

“All of it has some kind of a story,” Wright said.

Among the artists whose splashy and colorful works fills much of her wall space are Charles A. Bibbs, a contemporary visual artist whose focus is on realistic and larger-than-life interpretations of contemporary subjects; Kenneth Gatewood, a watercolor artist whose mediums include enamel and neon; and Kadir Nelson, a Los Angeles-based painter and illustrator whose paintings often are featured on the covers of The New Yorker magazine.

Wright also has found room to display works by Leroy Campbell, who uses art to tell of the contributions to humanity via the black experience; and Willie Duck, a local artist whose works have been featured at Youngstown State University’s annual Summer Festival of the Arts.

“At age 30, I seriously started putting money into the pieces,” said Wright, who shows every desire to continue filling the canvas of her colorful life with a deep love of art fused with making a difference in others’ lives.