Correspondent photo / Sean Barron Artist Kyle Holbrook of Miami painted this 336-square-foot mural on the former Park Inn building on Youngstown’s South Side in response to the uptick in gun violence in the city. Holbrook, who has family in the Mahoning Valley, said he has lost several childhood friends to gun violence, and he is on national tour to call attention to the problem.

YOUNGSTOWN — Those whose loved ones have been killed in shootings cope with their trauma and grief in a variety of ways, including Kyle Holbrook, whose methods are paints and sides of buildings.

“I lost friends to gun violence from when I was a teen to recently,” Holbrook, a longtime artist, said during a phone interview Wednesday from his Miami home.

Holbrook, a muralist and activist, is on a nationwide tour to use his artistic abilities to promote stopping such violence and striving for peace. One of his works is prominently displayed on the former Park Inn building, 2622 Glenwood Ave., on the South Side.

Such violence has increased in Miami, Youngstown and many other parts of the country, said Holbrook, who has been to 39 states so far.

The 336-square-foot Mural to End Gun Violence project in Youngstown’s Idora neighborhood was in response to the spate of recent shootings that have plagued many city neighborhoods in recent months. It shows a large hand in front of a rollercoaster-shaped pink backdrop forming a peace sign next to a stop sign that reads, “Stop gun violence.”

Holbrook also is the executive director and chief executive officer of an organization called Moving the Lives of Kids Mural Project. MLK is a youth entity that brings mural works to predominantly black neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and overseas. It also uses grant money to pay its youth participants.

Holbrook noted that the underlying reason for the tour is to “draw attention to this being a problem all over America.”

The uptick in gun violence also has caused some people to become desensitized to the problem, he continued.

Holbrook was exposed to gang violence while growing up in Wilkinsburg, near Pittsburgh. His upbringing also inspired Holbrook to use local teens for many of his public murals, the first ones of which he painted in the Pittsburgh area.

In 2002, Holbrook earned a degree in graphic design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

“I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” said Holbrook, whose parents were educators and his father was a guidance counselor for at-risk youth.

Many of the murals he’s painted on the tour display variations of the peace sign and are similar to the local artwork, he continued.

Holbrook added he wants his projects to stand out and serve as a message about the harmful effects of gun violence. A contributor is that many young people are growing up without fathers, too many of whom are incarcerated, he observed.

It is hoped the murals also will serve to inspire others to work toward finding solutions to the problem, said Holbrook, who has family in Youngstown.

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