The work of a well-known Cleveland textile artist who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kent State University will be on display at the Kent State University Museum beginning Jan. 24.
Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson, who first graduated from Kent State in 1991, will return to the Kent Campus for her first-ever exhibition at the university.
“It’s like coming home. I am just thrilled to be showing there,” Jónsson told Kent State Today. “I’m kind of calling this my mini-retrospective. It’s work that dates from 2009 until 2022, so it spans two-thirds of my career.”
Museum Director Sarah Spinner Liska, Ph.D., J.D., who is working to expand student and community engagement, said she was excited to invite Jónsson to exhibit at the museum.
“Jónsson’s work has been shown around the world, and it is time for a homecoming exhibition that will undoubtedly inspire current students in their own creative journeys,” she said.
Professor and Museum Curator Sara Hume, Ph.D., who organized the exhibition, said Jónsson is a world-renowned artist, and the museum is fortunate to have her exhibit.
“We’re really excited to have someone who is local to the Cleveland area, but also boasts a strong international reputation,” she said. “But more importantly, she is an alum of Kent State. She got her degree in the textiles program at the School of Art.”
Choosing Kent State Twice
Jónsson, a native of Iceland, first came to Kent State in 1983 to study architecture.
“Iceland did not have an architecture program in their university so everybody who wanted to be an architect had to go abroad,” she said, “I had a friend here in Cleveland at the time and she told me Kent State had a great architecture program.”
Jónsson spent two years in the architecture program, and while she was doing OK in her studies, she did not believe the major was right for her.
“So, I switched to art, and at that time I was living in Cleveland with my husband, so I went to the Cleveland Art Institute for three years, then I had a baby in 1988 and took two years off,” Jónsson recalled. “When it was time to go back to school, I decided to go back to Kent State.”
For her second time at Kent State, Jónsson majored in art in what was then the College of Fine and Professional Arts and found her true passion. She originally thought she would want to be a painter, but once she discovered weaving, there was no turning back.
Well-Prepared by Her Mentor
“I loved it. I love the textiles department that Janice Lessman-Moss was running. It was just phenomenal, and I finished there in 1991 with my BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts degree],” she said. Jónsson remained at Kent State and earned her master’s degree in fine arts in 1995.
Lessman-Moss, a professor of textiles, retired in 2022 after more than 40 years in Kent State’s School of Art. Jónsson could not offer enough praise for Lessman-Moss.
“She just made students feel so comfortable and at home and that they were worthy. She made you feel like you are worth something,” Jónsson said. “I’m like a crusader for Kent State and have been all these years. It’s a phenomenal art program and I don’t think it gets the attention it deserves. The facilities are amazing and the faculty. It was such a great experience. I can’t think of any other experience elsewhere that would have been any better.”
“I think she prepared me very well,” Jónsson said of Lessman-Moss, “She gave me confidence in myself that I was valid as an artist, which is really, really important for a young art student to get encouragement that ‘You really can do this.’”
In addition to practical advice on how to operate in the world of art, one valuable lesson that Jónsson remembers vividly from Lessman-Moss was to keep on going.
“She told me, not everybody is going to like your work. It doesn’t matter. Don’t get discouraged by rejection or people not liking your work. You just forge ahead,” she said.
Defining Her Technique
Jónsson is a weaver and a painter and combined her love of both by developing a technique in which she paints the warp threads that are threaded into the loom.
“I kind of pull out the warp and I paint on it with the appropriate dyes for the silk that I’m using,” she said. “Then I do an extra step, I paint the weft, which is the string that goes back and forth in the weaving.”
While warp and weft painting techniques have existed for many years, Hume said Jónsson has pioneered her unique weaving technique.
“The textile is really integral to the technique. It’s at once a painting and weaving,” Hume said, “It’s this really brilliant, innovative strategy that she has for creating works, and we’re really excited to be able to showcase this in our museum, which is dedicated to textile arts.”
Inspired by Nature
Jónsson said she finds much of her inspiration from travel or nature and her work has gotten more colorful as she has gotten older. She returns to Iceland for several months each year and often takes photos that she will then trace and put through a series of sketches or drawings before producing a design.
“Since 2002, all of my work has been based on photographs that I take in Iceland, so it is based on nature, the natural world in Iceland,” Jónsson said. “The nature there and the environment is so raw and so you really feel the power of the earth literally.”
Jonsson’s focus on the natural world was also a big draw for Spinner Liska, who is dedicated to opening dialogue about the environment and sustainability at the museum.
Advice for Aspiring Artists
For current art students, Jónsson’s advice is to follow your passion. “You have to do what inspires you, what you like doing, what you enjoy,” she said.
When she was starting 40 years ago, Jónsson said there were plenty of people who thought a more practical career than an artist was the safe route.
“Now, it just seems like even in the more practical fields, there is no job guarantee. … So just do what inspires you,” she said. “Do what inspires you and enjoy life.”
Art Appreciation
For those who may have the opportunity to see Jónsson’s art for the first time, she hopes that viewers understand that they don’t have to have a deep knowledge of art or art history to appreciate her weaving.
“I like my work to be accessible to people to just enjoy it for what it is and hopefully get something from it,” she said. “The response I would like my audience to feel is of being at peace with the world.”
The exhibition includes works depicting the natural world of Jónsson’s native Iceland. Monumental pieces interpret landscape and topography, while smaller works focus on subjects as minor as rocks and lichen. Some of her work was inspired by imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope including quasars and nebulae.
“We are excited to bring attention to this wonderful artist who has such a legacy at Kent State, and as such an important international figure in the art community,” Hume said.
Jónsson’s solo exhibition opens on Jan. 24 and continues through Aug. 3 in the museum’s Broadbent Gallery. A public opening reception and artist talk will be at 5 p.m. on Jan. 23. The museum will feature an exhibition tour for students on Jan. 24 and a student-led discussion about how we depict the world around us through art and design.