Kent State East Liverpool Campus celebrates local community art with the addition of a new permanent art collection Thursday evening.

A total of 18 pieces of art from area artists and pieces donated by local residents are now on permanent display, including photos, paintings, sculptures, and other works. Tina Smith, public relations coordinator at Kent State University East Liverpool and Salem, said there were some items on loan from members of the local community.

“These pieces included two paintings by David Gilmour Blythe,” she said. “(He’s) a 19-century artist from East Liverpool, whose works are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian and the Pittsburgh Carnegie Museum.”

A crowd of 60-70 people gathered on the second floor of the Mary Patterson Building in East Liverpool to attend the opening of the gallery.

The show also incorporated several pieces of pottery from the collection of William and Donna Gray.

Dr. Stephen G. Nameth, dean of Kent State East Liverpool and Kent State Salem, helped preside over the public address for the new collection.

“This gallery is a gem in the city of East Liverpool,” he said. “It showcases the amazing talents of some of our local artists and provides a slice of art culture to our community. This is only the beginning and we hope to see our collection grow. We also want to see the interest in art grow and we encourage others to support the arts in our community.”

The gallery will be displayed between exhibits of other guest artists and will be open to the public by appointment. To make arrangements to visit the gallery, call 330-382-7425.

Katie Rush is the regional campuses reporter for The Kent Stater.  [email protected]