2026-27 Exhibition Season
Harley-Davidson: Hitting the Road to Reach the Next Generation of Riders
Ruth Davis Design Gallery Window Display
Postponed – due to campus cooling issues, Nancy Nicholas Hall is closed to the public until further notice.
This summer, the Ruth Davis Design Gallery window will feature an iconic, American brand: Harley-Davidson. A Wisconsin born heritage motorcycle and lifestyle brand known for their close-knit rider communities, Harley-Davidson continues to build a brand with a culture that keeps consumers loyal for decades, if not lifetimes. During the Spring 2026 semester, five School of Human Ecology students were prompted by the brand through the annual Kohl’s Center for Retailing (KCR) Brand Consulting Project, to evolve the current go-to-market plan so that it better aligns with Gen Z consumers. On view, with objects and images on loan from the Harley-Davidson Museum and Harley-Davidson Motor Company, is the outcome of this collaboration and the plan developed by this cohort of students.
Knitted Dimensions: Knit, Technology, and Spatial Practices
Nancy Nicholas Hall
Fall 2026 – March 21, 2027
Through a series of beyond-the-gallery installations of knit-based soft architecture, Knitted Dimensions: Knit, Technology, and Spatial Practices demonstrates how knitting is a method of design capable of reshaping how spaces are made and experienced. The makers included in Knitted Dimensions work across disciplines, using computational approaches to expand the possibilities of spatial, structural and interactive textile systems. These installations include knit-based structures that stretch, curl, and adapt; material experiments with making, fabrication, algorithm design, and patterning; textiles with responsive and performative qualities; and applications of feminist thinking to knitting’s relationship to softness, care, labor, and embodied knowledge.
k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design
Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery
September 5 – December 6, 2026
k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design showcases knits from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection alongside objects made by contemporary artists and designers. All knits begin with two foundational stitches which create a structure of interlocking loops: knit and purl, commonly annotated as k and p. Knitters will recognize “k1, p2” as instructions to knit one stitch, then purl two stitches. These basic stitches form a binary code used by designers working with digital machines and handknitters alike. In the exhibition, stitches, structures, and systems demonstrate the possibilities of knit in domestic, architectural, wearable, and computational applications. k1, p2 demonstrates the expansiveness of knit processes and forms across time and disciplines.
Bring your class/group to k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design
The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab
Ruth Davis Design Gallery
September 30, 2026 – February 28, 2027
The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab exhibits the innovative, research-based work of University of Wisconsin–Madison teachers, faculty, scholars, and students in the science of early relational health. Rooted in this history, visitors are encouraged to consider how design shapes the spaces where children play, learn, and explore. Interactive displays and replicated study scenarios invite visitors into the world of the Child Development Lab throughout its first 100 years, with a focus on the research that takes place at every level in support of the social, emotional, and educational development of UW’s youngest students.
Small Matter
Nancy Nicholas Hall
December 3, 2025 – November 1, 2026
Soccer is the world’s most popular game, but experiences of the game are remarkably different around the world. When children do not have the luxury of affording a mass-produced soccer ball, they take to the streets to make their own balls from cheap, discarded objects. Small Matter exhibits makeshift rag balls made by children in Kano, Nigeria. Rag balls are common in many parts of the world where access to branded balls is limited. Rag balls are made of found materials including, but not limited to: pieces of fabric and string, plastic bags, mosquito nets, fishing nets, used socks, rubber bands, and broken doll’s heads. They demonstrate compelling practices of creative reuse and repurposing within street cultures of craft and play.
Sweater Weather
Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery
February 10 – May 9, 2027
Every handknit sweater is a story. Stitch by stitch, a sweater embodies its own construction and something about its maker. Sweater Weather follows the threads of meaning in this winter weather staple. The story of the sweater often begins with its most obvious use: to provide warmth. The makers featured in this exhibition expand expectations of use; some artists have subverted—even misused—the sweater towards new ends. In this way, the works on view are experimentations with the form and design of the sweater, deployments of queer and feminist political tactics, and explorations of the value of slowness and experiential knowledge.
Master’s of Fine Arts Exhibition
Ruth Davis Design Gallery
March 17 – April 4, 2027
Exhibition information is forthcoming.
Bring your class/group to the Master’s of Fine Arts Exhibition
Textiles & Fashion Design Student Exhibition
Ruth Davis Design Gallery
April 21 – May 9, 2027
Exhibition information is forthcoming.
Bring your class/group to the Textiles & Fashion Design Student Exhibition