Submitted photo / William D. Lewis Since retiring as a photojournalist for the Youngstown Vindicator, William D. Lewis has focused his camera on Lake Erie and Ohio’s north coast.

The work of six Northeast Ohio photographers will be featured in Trumbull Art Gallery’s third Photo Invitational exhibition.

Two of the photographers are based in Cleveland and Akron and showing at the downtown Warren gallery for the first time; others have participated in multiple TAG shows and one has her own photo studio two doors down from the exhibition site.

Gallery Director William Mullane said one of his goals with the show is to bring together photographers who haven’t worked together before and may not be familiar with each other’s work.

“I like the idea of taking two or three artists who live in the Valley and pairing with artists who don’t live in the Valley, hoping that will create a relationship in which then they get to reach out in other communities. It’s how you build networking.

“Hopefully, as people become aware of what’s available in the Valley, they’ll take part in it, and hopefully they’ll introduce our folks to things that are going on (in their cities) that we don’t know about.”

This year’s photographers are Jeff Beede, Sarah Bokone, Kevin Cunningham, Willam D. Lewis, Chuck Mintz and Richard States, and each will display between six and 12 images each.

It includes both black-and-white and color images and sizes ranging from 8.5-by-11 inches to 4-feet-by-5-feet.

“I knew nothing about Jeff Beede, but he was in the TAG Annual, and the piece in the TAG Annual, it stuck with me from the day I hung it,” Mullane said.

“He is really interested in the transition of architecture in the region.

“I think his and Chuck’s work are methodically different, but they complement each other in terms of their interest in the area. That’s why, when Chuck and I talked, he chose his hardware series, because they’re very detailed, very architectural, but also because it’s referential to the old days where stores were family owned. The hardware pictures have a real resonance in TAG because of its retail background and because of what (Courthouse) Square looked like in the past. I think the two of them will be interesting together.”

Mintz is a Cleveland-area photographer who Mullane has known for decades but hadn’t worked with in about 20 years.

He reached out after seeing his work in the most recent Ohio Arts Council biennial exhibition. Cunningham, who lives in Akron, was recommended by local artist and furniture maker Doug Meyer.

Lewis made his living as newspaper photographer, working for decades at the Youngstown Vindicator and the Tribune Chronicle until retiring in 2019.

“Bill Lewis is just a legendary photojournalist, but I thought it was interesting that once he retired and left the day-to-day pursuit of photojournalism, he dedicated his last three years to photographing up on Lake Erie. It’s interesting to see somebody who has done his entire life in photography, from high school on, what they do when they now can make the decision as to what they’re going to shoot and work with.”

Like Lewis, Bokone has exhibited her work at TAG in solo and small group shows. She is a Warren G. Harding High School graduate with a photography studio on North Park Avenue and is a painter as well as a photographer.

States was a teacher at Warren Western Reserve High School.

“He is internationally renowned for his horticultural photographs, and he taught horticulture,” Mullane said.

If you go …

WHAT: TAG Photo Invitational with Jeff Beede, Sarah Bokone, Kevin Cunningham, Willam D. Lewis, Chuck Mintz and Richard States and “From the Berlin Wall to the Bayou: A Celebration of the Art and Life of Amy Beth Novelli (1963-2025)”

WHEN: Saturday through July 18 with opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

WHERE: Trumbull Art Gallery, 158 N. Park Ave., Warren

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to www.trumbullartgallery.com or call 330-395-4876.