John Pearson

(Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, England, 1940 - )

American

John Pearson’s precise, systematic experiments with geometric forms and unmodulated color, as well as his extended teaching career have earned him recognition as key figure in the arts of Northeast Ohio and beyond. Raised in rural England, Pearson earned his National Diploma of Design from the Harrogate School of Art, Yorkshire, in 1960. He moved to London to study at the Royal Academy Schools, where he trained in the figurative style favored by instructors there, but became interested in the work of his contemporaries that aligned with his own tendencies towards abstraction. Like many 1960s European artists, Pearson developed a rational, systematic approach to art-making, which led to his long-lasting engagement with geometric abstraction. After earning his certificate from the Royal Academy in 1963, Pearson studied as a research fellow at the Akademie der Bildende Kunst, Munich, for one year before moving to the United States. He received his MFA from Northern Illinois University in 1966. For short periods, he taught at the University of New Mexico, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and the Cleveland Institute of Art before taking a position at Oberlin College in 1972. His retirement from a forty-two year teaching career at Oberlin, where he influenced generations of students, coincided with his 2014 solo exhibition at the Akron Art Museum. His explorations in geometric abstraction are housed in private and public collections throughout Northeast Ohio and across the nation.

Oberlin, Ohio

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