A new gallery in Hudson is using creativity to change the conversation around art and mental health
by Carlo Wolf
As you approach Peg’s Gallery in downtown Hudson, the message becomes clear: This is a different kind of space. On a meadow next to the entrance stands a massive aluminum and enamel sculpture called Bipolar Butterfly. Created by Stow-based artist Kimmy Henderson, the work’s vibrant, mismatched wings symbolize the dualities of mental illness—its chaos and its beauty.
“I actually didn’t start painting until my second child was born and the Butterfly Project didn’t start until after my first manic episode in 2016,” says Henderson, who was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder at age 35. She sees her work as a bridge between art and advocacy. “I think it shows how art has the power to bring about social change and activism.”
That connection—between creative expression and mental health—is at the heart of Peg’s Gallery and the foundation behind it. “Art is an avenue to create conversation, to create healing,” says Rick Kellar, president and chief executive of Peg’s Foundation since 2005.
A Mission Rooted in Lived Experience
More than just a gallery, Peg’s is also the foundation’s headquarters and a platform for experimentation—a think tank for reimagining how mental health can be addressed through culture and creativity. “A gallery could just be a gallery,” says Courtney Cable, Peg’s Foundation Lead of Arts & Communication. “But it’s really not just the gallery.” It’s a facilitator—a portal to start hard conversations.
That mission is reflected in the intimate, jewel-box 3,000-square-foot gallery designed by Peninsula Architects, which opened on Oct. 22, 2024. The gallery serves as the public-facing arm of Peg’s Foundation—a philanthropic organization with more than $106 million in assets, according to Guidestar, dedicated to improving the lives of people with serious mental illness.
The foundation is named for Margaret Clark “Peg” Morgan, an arts patron and mental health advocate whose son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. For Peg and her son, art was a shared refuge—a way to process, connect, and heal. Her motto, “Think Bigger,” still guides the organization. “She always said, ‘Hey, don’t come up with reasons why you can’t do something,’” recalls Kellar. “‘Think of how you can.’”
Visitors feel that spirit the moment they walk in, greeted by a large photo-collage “welcome wall” spotlighting Peg Morgan and the foundation’s mission, approach, and vision.
Tucked under the staircase to the foundation’s second-floor offices is a children’s nook—complete with pegs—inviting even the youngest guests to join the conversation.
Thinking Bigger–With Dali
That mindset is on full display in the gallery’s current exhibition: Dali Beyond Time: Fashioning the Future, an unexpected and ambitious show that pairs rarely seen Salvador Dali drawings and jewelry with futuristic garments designed by Kent State University fashion students. (The exhibition, which runs through September 27, opened June 12. Dali’s paintings were only on view through July 5th).
For a gallery in its first year of operation, mounting a show of this scale might seem improbable. But to Kellar, that’s the point. “You might think of a traditional approach to how you would do mental health, arts, or education—our three main focus areas,” he says. “I have kind of the opposite approach. We’re not a huge foundation; we’re not small, but we’re not huge. But to think that we could build a gallery of this size in this place and host Dali paintings within the first six or eight months—we did that.”
The seeds of the exhibition were planted decades ago, when Peg and Burt Morgan began supporting Kent State University, eventually endowing the fashion department’s directorship. At a dinner in New York last year, Kellar met an executive from Scabal, a luxury European fabric company that owns a collection of 12 Dali illustrations commissioned in the early 1970s to imagine fashion in the year 2000.
That meeting sparked an idea: What if Peg’s Gallery paired those works with new creations by fashion students—young designers who could bring Dali’s vision into the present?
Art as an Outlet
But the show is more than a visual delight. True to the foundation’s mission, Dali Beyond Time is also an exercise in creative healing and education. It includes workshops and opportunities for student designers to reflect on how art can serve as an emotional outlet.
“So it wasn’t just about bringing the paintings here, and it wasn’t just about the suits,” says Cable. “They wanted to encourage emerging designers through this experience as well. And that’s where the beautiful connection lies.”
Kent State student Ashleigh Stephenson, who led a croquis [figure drawing] workshop at the gallery and won a Dali Vision Award for a winged dress she created, says the experience affirmed her belief in the power of art to support mental health.
“Peg’s Gallery is an inspiration to me,” she says. “Mental illness is something that affects everyone, whether you yourself struggle with it, or it’s someone you know and love. Having
a creative outlet like fashion and art is a crucial part of my mental health.”
To Stephenson, galleries like Peg’s aren’t just places to view art—they’re spaces for healing. “It’s so important to bring awareness to mental health and advocate for a better future for those with mental illness,” she says. “And that is exactly what Peg’s Gallery does.”
A Different Kind of Gallery
Kellar credits his own experience as a former Green Beret with shaping the foundation’s unconventional approach. “Part of being in the Army is to be disruptive and contrarian in how I think about how things should be,” he says.
That mindset has fueled Peg’s ambitious growth. Before opening the new space, the gallery operated from a modest 300-square-foot lobby in a different building across the street. Even then, artists were lining up—both professionals and amateurs—to show their work.
“Artists are coming out of the woodwork,” Kellar says. “This is 10 times that capacity. It’s how you manage and do it right and protect your brand. And it’s all opportunity.”
One of the gallery’s most attractive features for emerging artists? It takes no commission on sales—unlike most galleries, which often take 40% to 50%.
And what comes after Dali Beyond Time?
The team is already thinking ahead. The next exhibition could feature local, national, or international artists—or some combination of all three. Peg’s Foundation will keep pushing boundaries, Kellar says, and continue proving that creative spaces can be catalysts for serious change.
There’s no reason a gallery in a small Ohio town can’t be a leader in mental health innovation. It just has to be willing to think big.
