Parallel Lines: Quilts and the American Landscape

Graphic of a old plot map of Wisconsin with squares filled in with pieces of quilts. In the bottom right corner is text that reads "Parallel Lines Quilts and the American Landscape."

Parallel Lines: Quilts and the American Landscape explores the parallel processes of quilt-making within the American home and place-making on the American landscape. Featuring nineteenth- and twentieth-century American quilts drawn from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, the exhibit examines some of the most familiar quilt forms – such as nine-patch squares, eight-pointed stars, and “log cabin” blocks with cloth strips surrounding a central square “hearth”– as the basis for individual creativity and innovative design. Visitors will be encouraged to view American quilts through a new lens, by comparing these geometric motifs and strong linear compositions to the boundaries, pathways, and structures of the built environment.

This exhibition is curated by Dr. Marina Moskowitz, Professor of Design Studies and the Lynn and Gary Mecklenburg Chair in Textiles, Material Culture & Design. This exhibition and its related programs are made possible with support from the Anonymous Fund and many generous donors and partners who share the vision of the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture. The center creates meaningful opportunities for students, faculty, and the broader community to engage with textiles, design, and material culture.

On view in the Lynn Mecklenburg Gallery from September 3, 2025 – May 15, 2026

Celebrating Quilts with the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture

Join curators Marina Moskowitz and Sophie Pitman as they share a few insights into objects on view in the 2025-26 exhibitions on view in the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture. The 2025-26 season was titled “Quilting Connections” and was in celebration of our 2025 naming gift in honor of Nancy Meng Bruce. Nancy was an avid quilt collector, with seven of the quilts she collected here in the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. What better way to celebrate Nancy and the Bruce family than exhibiting those seven quilts, along with dozens more from the collection in a year of celebrating this iconic making technique.

First up is Find Your Quilt on view October 8, 2025 – March 1, 2026 in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery. Curated by Dr. Sophie Pitman, Pleasant Rowland Textile Specialist and Research Director of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, Find Your Quilt invites visitors to do just that with the objects on view.

Then we head over to the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery to see Parallel Lines: Quilts and the American Landscape, on view September 3, 2026 – May 10, 2026. This exhibit is curated by Dr. Marina Moskowitz, Professor of Design Studies and the Lynn and Gary Mecklenburg Chair in Textiles, Material Culture & Design, and explores the parallel processes of quilt-making within the American home and place-making on the American landscape.