To view image click on "Access Content Now" above Primarily known as a Colourfield painter, Kenneth Peters worked as an abstract artist, using paint and ink to explore texture, space, shape and colour. In this pen drawing he uses dashes to outline two flower blossoms or cloud forms. The shapes fill the paper, pushing against each other and the sides of the page. If you say the title out loud, “No Thing Thing”—it sounds similar to the words “nothing thing”: a playful way to suggest that even though the drawing is not meant to realistically depict the physical world, it is still an object. This combination of humour and philosophy reflects the influence of Zen Buddhism on Kenneth Peters. During the 1960s in Saskatchewan, at the Emma Lake Workshops with John Cage and other avant-garde artists, Peters and his colleagues such as Otto Rogers, became deeply influenced by Zen and discussions around the purpose of art. Kenneth Peters (1939 – 2007) Born in Regina, Peters studied at the School of Fine Art at the University of Saskatchewan's Regina Campus (now U. of Regina), and earned his diploma in 1960. From 1962 to 1968, Peters taught art at the University in Regina. During this time, he was part of a growing abstract art movement in the prairies. He attended the Emma Lake workshops with internationally distinguished figures working in abstraction such as the painters John Ferren, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella, and Michael Steiner; the composer John Cage, and the critics Lawrence Alloway and Clement Greenberg. In 1968, Peters moved to Montreal, and taught for two years at Sir George Williams University (now part of Concordia). In 1970, he was hired as permanent faculty by Heritage College in Hull, Quebec. In 1984, Peters returned to Montreal, and taught at Concordia University before retiring. Peter’s artwork has been exhibited internationally, and is held in several public collections: Canada Council Art Bank; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, University of Calgary, Edmonton Art Gallery, and Dunlop Art Gallery
