The Kent State University Museum exhibition “TEXTURES: the history and art of Black hair” has been awarded the Arts Alive award for Collaborative Project for 2022. The Arts Alive awards benefit reception celebrating the honorees in 13 categories will take place on June 23, 2022, from 6-9 p.m. at 140 E. Market St. in Akron. Tickets can be purchased on Summit Artspace’s website.

The Kent State University Museum's new Pathfinders exhibit brings together recent work of six creatives, all alumni of Kent State University's School of Fashion, whom are defining their own pathways amidst the everchanging industry of fashion, social media, and design. 

Join us on Sunday, July 17 for the Kent Blossom Music Festival - Young Artist Concert Series at the KSU Museum. This series features the accomplished Young Artists who attend Kent Blossom Music Festival each summer hailing from schools of music and concervatories worldwide.

TEXTURES  synthesizes research in history, fashion, art, and visual culture to reassess the “hair story” of peoples of African descent. Long a fraught topic for African Americans and others in the diaspora, Black hair is here addressed by artists, barbers, and activists in both its historical perceptions and its ramifications for self and society today. Combs, products, and implements from the collection of hair pioneer Willie Morrow are paired here with masterworks from artists including James Van Der Zee, Sonya Clark, Lorna Simpson, Mary Sibande and Zanele Muholi.

But although Marriage be Common to all the Nations in the World, yet it is not regulated by the same Laws, nor celebrated in the same Forms and Ceremonies, they varying according to the diversity of Religions and Nations. (p 3)
-- Louis de Gaya. Nuptial rites, Or the Several Marriage Ceremonies Practiced amongst all the Nations in the World. London, 1685.

Award winning artist and beloved professor, Janice Lessman-Moss is renowned for her intricate weavings. The Kent State University Museum exhibition, Dancing with the Distance showcases more than thirty of her works. The weavings, which span a period of twenty years, display the evolution of her craft and were created on a variety of different looms from hand looms to digital jacquards and power looms. Her mastery of technology extends not just to the use of high-powered looms for weaving but also to the design of the patterns.

The exhibition The Print Club of Cleveland: Selected Presentation Prints includes 15 works in a variety of media by an impressive coterie of international artists, cultivated by a visionary organization. Founded in 1919 through the dedication of 16 collectors with a passion for prints, the Print Club of Cleveland reflects the prestige of the institution of which it is an affiliate, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Innovative in its inception, the club continues to enrich the museum’s world-class print collection and promote interest in the history of printmaking.

Through an extensive collection of musical instruments and costumes, photographs and video montages of rarely-seen rituals, the Songs of Memory exhibition explores the ancestral ceremonies of the mountain peoples of Southeast Asia. The Karen, Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Akha, and Lisu have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation through oral tradition. This exhibition highlights the rich diversity of these traditional peoples by showcasing their musical heritage, a vivid testament to the integrity and beauty of their unique cultures.