Skyscrapers exhibit honors prominent African-American Daytonians

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

If you walk into the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center in downtown Dayton around this time each year, you would likely notice an art exhibit entitled Dayton Skyscrapers.

This morning News Center 7’s Letitia Perry reported from outside the Schuster Center on the annual exhibit, including an interview with artist Willis “Bing” Davis, who curates it.

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Dayton Skyscrapers honors African-American Daytonians who make a difference on a national scale by creating pieces of art honoring them, all created by local, seasoned artists.

Figures include educators like Dayton City Commissioner Jeff Mims, Jefferson Community College President Ty Stone and other prominent people from the city.

When asked who he hopes will see this exhibit, Davis immediately answered “Urban youth.”

“Because so many of them want to either be NBA, NFL, or hip-hop,” he said said he wanted them to know that there were people from Dayton who look like them in all fields.

He also said he wanted to identify outstanding African-Americans that had given back to this community and been role models for urban youth.

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The exhibit will stay in the Schuster Center on 2nd Street in downtown Dayton until April 5, when it will be moved to the DP&L headquarters on Woodman Drive until May 4, after which it will finally be displayed in the Ebonia Gallery on West Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

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