CDMC Stories

  • Unsigned animals by Berea College Student Industries - Woodcraft 1930-1970 Walnut, Cherry 2022.7.2, Loyal Jones Appalachian Center, Berea College, Berea, Ky

    Making the Future with Berea College Student Craft

    A blog post on the current exhibition Heart, Head, and Hand: Making and Remaking at Berea College Student Craft examines some of the lessons we may learn from craft and design as we cultivate a more equitable and flourishing world.

  • Photo of two women lifting a brightly colored textile on white tissue paper out of a long flat drawer.

    Weaving the past into the present

    A recent inventory of 13,000+ artifacts inspired a fresh look at the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection Written by Nicole Etter If the story of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection (HLATC) was told through …

  • Imagining the Healing Process through Manual Practices: The Arpillera Experience in Peruvian Communities

    Can collective healing processes be manifested through creative activities? If so, how might we envision this taking place? The meticulous curation of the Social Threads exhibition challenges viewers to reconsider how communities have organized visual …

  • Layers of History Woven into Lace

    With their unassuming appearance, these two bobbin lace pieces may at first seem like mere objects of craft, evocative of a time when lace adorned everything from haute couture fashion to the furniture of our …

  • Weaving Between the Lines: Authenticity, Identity, and Place(s) of Origin

    Amongst objects in the Social Thread exhibition such as embroidered Hungarian shawls, Hmong story cloths, and Polish lace runners, the Filipino tapis is an object with a deceptively heavy history. When I saw it in …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: December 

    Thank you for joining this year on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition—this is our final post! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, …

  • Student Spotlight: Alternative Fashions by Addison Nace

    What is fashion? This question is one of the guiding inquiries that inspired Uncut Attire. Since entering grad school, I have begun to consider ways in which the definition of fashion may be broadened to …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: November 

     Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, choosing the color …

  • graphic with a light grey floral pattern in the background and the words "questioning things" across the middle and a blue chair tangled in the text.

    Student Spotlight: Experiencing “Questioning Things” by Sarah Egan

    Experiencing “Questioning Things” on my first day back as a gallery assistant in the Center for Design and Material Culture was daunting. Having been gone for the summer, the exhibit was a surprise to me, …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: October 

     Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, choosing the color …

  • photograph of three women standing in an all white room looking at a yellow textile on a table

    Five Minutes, Four Textiles: One Chance to Introduce the Collection

    With just five minutes to introduce the collection to UW-Madison’s new Chancellor, Pleasant Rowland Textile Specialist and Research Director Sophie Pitman selects four objects that showcase the breadth and possibilities of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: September

    Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: September   Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: August

    Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, choosing the color …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: July

    Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, choosing the color …

  • Textile Tuesday: Red Edition: June 

    Join us once a month during 2022 on the CDMC Stories blog for Textile Tuesdays: Red Edition! Students in the UW-Madison Design Studies class “History of Textiles” (Fall 2021) wrote these posts, choosing the color …

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