"Meaningfulness presents itself in small fleeting moments of intuition. It is always on the periphery of understanding; a phase transition from thought to feeling and back again. These moments are ultimately the subject and ambition for my work," says David Moss, about his exhibit, Peripheries, that begins at The Rose Lehrman Arts Center Gallery May 14. It continues through June 25.

The show is largely comprised of drawings which mix charcoal, oil pastel and watercolor pencil to create intricately layered surfaces. The quietly glowing colors of these drawings contain much energy. The several oil paintings included in the exhibit have a more vibrant color palette. Both the drawings and paintings seem to be about mark making rather than recognizable subject; they are made with flurries of jabs and strokes that create translucent and opaque effects.

According to the artist, the images are "found through an improvisational process that intentionally courts ambiguous dialog, random structures, humor, flux, and a sense of forms slowly unfolding an uncertain identity." Certainly the process of making the work and the hand of the artist are evident in these rich, dimensional works.

Moss spends part of each year in Corona, New Mexico where he is able to concentrate more on his art work. While not having a direct bearing on his work, he feels that experiencing the solitude and natural beauty of this rural location is proving to be an influence for change and growth. Much of the work in this show was produced while working in New Mexico.

Moss received his MFA from Syracuse University in 1981. He has shown widely throughout the region and received awards from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the State Museum of Pennsylvania. Moss has been an associate professor of art at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design since 1983.

All gallery exhibits are free and open to the public. Rose Lehrman Arts Center Gallery summer hours are Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call the gallery director at 717-780-2435 for more information.

The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery exhibits are made possible, in part, through Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA), a local decision-making program of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA). Funding comes from the citizens of Pennsylvania through an annual state appropriation by the Legislature, and from a federal grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. PPA is administered locally by Jump Street.