Circles, paths and grids showcase rhythmic work of Peg’s Gallery exhibit

ITERATIONS: Rhythm & Reason is a group exhibit at Peg’s Gallery in Hudson, with artwork from three artists with strong connections to Kent State University’s art department. In the exhibit, there is a range of works to view until January. From branches plated into stone to handwoven pieces, the artists and their work tell a cohesive story that ties together the purpose of the gallery. 

“As a new venue, we have the opportunity to shift the culture and have new conversations,” said Courtney Cable, lead of arts and communication at Peg’s Foundation, which works to improve the lives of people with serious mental illness.  

The 3,000-square-foot space, an initiative of the foundation, is displaying pieces from Brinsley Tyrrell, Janice Lessman-Moss and Peter Christian Johnson. 

Each artist made different yet important decisions with their chosen pieces to create this thought-provoking exhibit.

Ceramic sculpture artist Brinsley Tyrrell

Perhaps best known for “The Brain” sculpture at Kent State, Tyrrell, 84, is a ceramic sculpture artist and was the head of the sculpture program at the university for 27 years. Originally from England, he began creating at a young age and always wanted to create sculptures. 

Tyrrell moved to Ohio for two years with his wife in 1968 for “an adventure” and ended up staying. Since then, he has not let up on creating. 

“I think making art is a sort of celebration,” Tyrrell said. “I hope the pieces are sort of serious, but I hope they’re lighthearted as well.” 

Tyrrell bought a barn in Portage County’s Freedom Township and moved his art supplies there. He sourced wood and stone near the barn for his oldest piece in the exhibit, “Walking in Morgan’s Woods,” completed in the 1980s. Tyrrell’s work in ITERATIONS: Rhythm & Reason tells the story of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected him in 2021. 

Whether it is a circle, has a circle attached to it, or has an inception of circles poked through it, the objects mainly feature circles.

“I was exploring these invasive forms,” Tyrrell said. “Some of them have points on them. Points to me means danger.” 

Textile artist Janice Lessman-Moss

Textile artist Janice Lessman-Moss, 71, studied interior design and textiles before embracing  her artistic side. She was introduced to the art scene through a position at a gallery. After working with artists and their works, she studied textile art at the Tyler School of Arts at Temple University. 

“[The artists were] not making a lot of money at that time,” Lessam-Moss said. “But it was just a kind of passion and enthusiasm for their work that was really contagious.”

She went on to teach textile art at Kent State University for 40 years. As hand weaving evolved, Lessman-Moss’s process did as well. During her time at Kent State, she acquired a TC2 loom (for Thread Controller 2) through the fashion department. She used this digital jacquard loom to create handwoven pieces for ITERATIONS: Rhythm & Reason. 

Her pieces start out as digital drawings in Photoshop and build out into linear patterns that resemble walking on paths. For her current exhibit, Lessman-Moss added aluminum wire and nickel in some of the pieces like “Sure of the Stars” and “Storm Warning.” 

“So I’m always walking,” Lessman-Moss said. “And that notion of repetition is very connected to the process of weaving. It’s a slow process. Walking is slow, weaving is slow, and it’s 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, and it’s just one foot after the other. So that repetition is the basis of weaving.”

Contemporary ceramic artist Peter Christian Johnson

Peter Christian Johnson, 49, is an artist who creates ceramics that challenge the average viewer. Johnson studied science, initially with the goal of becoming a doctor. He worked in a studio while simultaneously studying for the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test). Johnson connected with the art of ceramics and then studied fine art. 

Johnson is entering his 10th year of teaching at Kent State and is the head of the ceramics program there. He spends most of his studio time creating both colorful and colorless ceramic pieces that resemble cities when arranged together. 

“A brand new building in all its sort of proper right angles doesn’t feel quite human,” Johnson said. “I think there’s a poetry and that sort of brokenness and that sort of collapse that feels right to me about when I look around the world.” 

Johnson’s pieces at Peg’s Gallery are white, grid-like squares and lines that sit together to create one piece. Many of the individual pieces in the arrangements are dripping with glaze, tilting over or twisting up. 

“It looks complicated,” Johnson said. “And I want that, that sense of time, that sense of building something and constructing it.