by Heather BurnhamAl Bright is a a local abstract expressionist artist from Youngstown born in January 1940. The former KSU and YSU student has spent a life time in this area building a successful career in the art world.
Bright has always been an artist and actually had to repeat the third grade three times because he wouldn’t stop drawing. After that experience, he focused more on his education. Al’s success started early in his life, but it wasn’t until he was at a Junior Achievement conference that fate totally turned his life around.
As a senior in high school, Mr. Bright was president of the National Honor Society and Junior Achievement and was eighth in a class of 600. He attended the national conference for Junior Achievement and was placed at a table with the founder of the Colgate Company and Ed Mosley Jr.
“At the conference you had to stand up and tell your accomplishments and say what college you planned to attend in the fall” he said. When it was Al’s turn he said, “My name is Al Bright, I am from Youngstown, Ohio, and I am on the waiting list for Erma Lees Barber School.”
The attendees of the conference thought he was kidding and erupted in laughter. As an African American no one had spoke to him about going to college. So Colgate and Mosley told him he was too smart not to further his education and he needed to apply to college immediately. They vowed to help him however they could.
When Al returned home he applied to Youngstown University (YU) and gained acceptance and a defense scholarship. He contacted the men from his table and they sent him money to help him with books.
Al was the first in his family to receive a formal education. After graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1964, he attended Kent State University to obtain his Masters of Art in 1965. He then returned to Youngstown State University and taught for the next 43 years. He currently teaches one semester per year through his retirement at YSU.
Al is still involved with Junior Achievment and he has been a performance artist for the last 35 years. He stands onstage with a jazz band, symphony or even a minister and projects the sounds the audience is hearing onto a blank canvas.
He has been married for the last 15 years and has 8 successful children. When asked what art is to him, he said, “Art is a true reflection of the times in which we live …In every work of genius, you will see your own rejected thoughts."
When Al returned home he applied to Youngstown University (YU) and gained acceptance and a defense scholarship. He contacted the men from his table and they sent him money to help him with books.
Al was the first in his family to receive a formal education. After graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in 1964, he attended Kent State University to obtain his Masters of Art in 1965. He then returned to Youngstown State University and taught for the next 43 years. He currently teaches one semester per year through his retirement at YSU.
Al is still involved with Junior Achievment and he has been a performance artist for the last 35 years. He stands onstage with a jazz band, symphony or even a minister and projects the sounds the audience is hearing onto a blank canvas.
He has been married for the last 15 years and has 8 successful children. When asked what art is to him, he said, “Art is a true reflection of the times in which we live …In every work of genius, you will see your own rejected thoughts."
