A cross-cultural celebration of art, fashion and technology between the United States and China took place at the opening reception of the “@Infinitum” exhibition at the Kent State University Museum on Oct. 1 2015. This technology-assisted exhibition is a partnership with Sichuan University and Hebei Normal University in China. The exhibit started at Sichuan University in 2014 and will move to Hebei Normal University in March 2016 after its stay at KSU. The Kent State installment, which is curated by art education associate professor Koon-Hwee Kan and textile arts professor Janice Lessman-Moss, is on display from July 26, 2015 to Jan. 10, 2016.

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. She creates her elaborate layering of circles and sinuous lines on the computer using Adobe Photoshop. The designs are then converted into the final work by a combination of painting and dyeing the threads and programming the woven pattern into the loom. The weavings are masterful in their technical brilliance but also engrossing in their visual appeal. Lessman-Moss’s work as an artist has constantly been informed by her work as a professor. Her exploration of different technologies has enabled her to teach generations of students not simply how to weave but how to create art that responds to the possibilities of the loom.

Exhibition ran from February 25, 2022 to October 2, 2022.