Visiting Portsmouth on the southern edge of Ohio might include stopping by the historic Boneyfiddle District, or seeing the colorful Flood Wall murals. It might also include getting stopped by a group of local artists who hand you a piece of chalk and ask you to get involved on some impromptu sidewalk art.
Those artists are from a nonprofit, queer-inclusive art collective continuing Portsmouth’s artistic tradition. Pulling its name from a flower native to Ohio, the Trillium Project’s goal is to “heal and revive” the streets of Portsmouth – and in the future, other communities where artists live. The “tri” in Trillium refers to three parts: art, advocacy and Appalachia.
The nonprofit started in 2020, though this year has been their “most successful” through many factors from number of artists hired, murals completed, funds raised and more said founder and CEO Amanda Lewis. Trillium Project began its public arts push through the two-year Second Glance initiative, a project to beautify Portsmouth.
These past four years, Lewis and her team have been putting together a “creative workforce” to supplement the lost blue-collar jobs industry in Appalachian Ohio that declined since the 1980s.
That workforce is already paying dividends to the Appalachian towns, she said.
“We want to make sure that everything we’re doing has real, lasting local impact,” Lewis said.
Trillium Project has raised nearly $100,000 for art projects around Portsmouth and Appalachian Ohio over the last seven months, she said. Some of that funding is through the Queer Arts Liberation Fund from Waymakers Collective, which grants money to art projects that uplift LGBTQ+ artists in Appalachia. The fund helped Trillium Project co-sponsor Portsmouth Pride this year and pay for security, live music and provide a safe space for queer artists, Lewis said.
In addition to LGBTQ+ voices, Lewis said, Trillium Project also lifts up BIPOC, disabled and young artists.
‘Man, I left Portsmouth at the wrong time.’
In her years as a creative, Klaire Smith has never seen this scale of public art, one that pays artists in the community. The 30-year-old, who uses she/they pronouns, has been working with Trillium Project on art projects in between her stint as a junior high art teacher in Portsmouth.
Born and raised in Portsmouth, she found it hard to come out as queer in the small town. She moved away to attend university, and didn’t come back until recently with her wife.
“Trillium Project started doing projects, and I remember feeling like, ‘Man, I left Portsmouth at the wrong time,’” she said. “Then (my wife) and I had decided we’re done living in Columbus; we’d like to go back to rural living.”
Since coming back, she said, the community has been more accepting. There has been a notable shift in the town culture, thanks in part to the Trillium Project.
Art helps Portsmouth – and greater Appalachia – have an appreciation for itself, she said. The hillbilly stereotype has rocked the region’s self-confidence. Art gives the community an identity, which in turn builds connection, Smith said.
“Trillium Project has a lot of indirect, if not direct, ties to uplifting a community as a whole,” she said. “It’ll become something that the town is known for.”
Kameron Hardin wasn’t sure if he was going to make it as an artist. His family is full of artists, and he grew up in South Shore, Kentucky “naturally gifted,” he said. But it’s hard for those natural gifts to bloom without a stable income.
Then Amanda Lewis came along.
“We met a long time ago and, and she pitched this idea to me,” Hardin said. ”She’s like, ‘Do you think if I started a nonprofit (about beautifying Portsmouth), you’d want to be involved?’” Hardin recalled. “I was like, ‘Absolutely, Amanda. Yes, that’s what I’ve wanted to do.’”
Hardin sits on the nonprofit’s board in addition to being one of the Trillium Project’s artists. He said the community’s response was touch-and-go when Trillium Project came on the scene. But when they made the local paper after painting sidewalks, it was a turning point in the collective eyes of the community.
“Honestly, it’s been really rewarding, because people do come out and help to paint,” he said. “We’ve had people walking down the street while we’re painting and we’re like, ‘Hey, do you want to paint this piece of this mural?’ And they’re like, ‘What?’ And we’re like, ‘Do you?’”
Rebuilding
Community involvement is important, especially for a community that is in recovery. Portsmouth is in Scioto County, which had the highest amount of prescription drug overdoses in the state, according to 2022 data from the Ohio Department of Health.
Lewis acknowledged that the Trillium Project can’t fix everything. In addition to recovering from the opioid epidemic, the city is going through a housing crisis, she said. She would like the art collective to find a way to help the community with housing, but it’s a tall order for an organization that receives over 90% of its money through grant funding.
But neighboring communities are seeing the value that the Trillium Project brings. Cities like Ironton and even Huntington, West Virginia, have expressed interest in artists coming to beautify their cities, Lewis said.
However, working in other communities is a longer-term goal, said Lewis. For now, Portsmouth is home, and it’s rebuilding.
And Trillium Project will be front-and-center. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Visit the Trillium Project’s website here.
- Read more about the Queer Arts Liberation Fund here.
- The public can see the work of Trillium artists in Here., an exhibit that opens with a reception on Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. and runs through Nov. 8 at Shawnee State University’s Appleton Gallery.
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