Ryan Giambattista was a postal worker and artist who had a passion and love for all forms of art, he personally experienced the therapeutic benefits of artistic expression. His talents were not limited to traditional forms of art on paper; instead, he chose the walls of several blighted buildings in Youngstown as his canvas for color murals and designs- all with his signature "tag" HELMS. Ryan's art brought life back to buildings that have been forgotten and left with stories of "the good ole days". The history and strength of those walls provided a canvas for new ideas, designs and purpose

Ryan was the youngest in our family of seven, he was a humble, caring human being who lost his live in a tragic accident on July 10, 2015 at the age of 23.  Ryan's art was very personal to him and he did not limit himself to street art. There were many days and nights that would be spent working on a single 5x7 picture using a micro-tip art pen to make millions of tiny dots, dashes and designs that would form into an amazing image or character that was once in his head. At times, there would be canvases and paints with layering of different materials to form patterns and textures. And let's not forget the paint box and screen printing that would go on in the basement of our home. Prior to working as a Postal Carrier at the Sharon Post Office, Ryan was hired to start a screen printing business for two gentlemen who purchased a small screen printing shop on the southside of Youngstown. After several weeks of being hired, Ryan had the shop up and running, trained additional new hires and established working relationships. His knowledge of different art forms and techniques was self taught and applied with his personal flare and creativity. I am proud to have shared in so many of these experiences and to have been part of his artistic growth. I do not know who he would have been if he did not have his art and I can not imagine a community without art-making. It is my job to keep his passion, spirit and creativity present .