Throughout the pandemic many people turned to sewing for the first time—or for the first time in many years—to create masks for their communities. In the third episode of “Refrangible,” Gianofer Fields introduces us to an old friend who helped her in this endeavor: her mother’s sewing machine.
Material Culture
A Report from the “Feeling Fragmentary” Symposium
Graduate students engaged with Material Culture studies across UW–Madison closed out the academic year with a day-long symposium, “Feeling Fragmentary.”
The Portal: A Step into the Past
Online Launch: June 2021. “The Portal: A Step into The Past” is an online exhibition/virtual experience featuring student-designed historic interiors. Juried by Shana McCaw, Brent Budsberg, and Jonathan Prown and digitally curated by IA design studies students, the exhibit showcases selected period rooms from course “DS 422: History of Architecture.”
Material Culture Student Spotlight: Sophie Rain Plzak
Spring 2021 Art History graduate Sophie Rain Plzak shares her thoughts on the Material Culture Certificate program and her future plans.
Student Spotlight: Samantha Comerford, “Dresses for Death: Mass-Produced Burial Garments in America, 1880-1915”
Art History Master’s student (and 2021 graduate) Samantha Comerford shares her research and favorite HLATC stories with us to reflect on her recent graduation.
Student Spotlight: Lindsey Wilson, “Grief Unveiled: A Study on Victorian Mourning Practices and Spiritualism”
Textile Design and Art History student (and 2021 graduate) Lindsey Wilson shares her Senior Thesis work and research around Victorian mourning practices.
CDMC Producers Win Awards from Wisconsin Broadcasters Association
Radio Chipstone episode from Producer-in-Residence Gianofer Fields honored with Best Feature Bronze Medal, and three pieces by Jonah Chester won awards.
Milwaukee Film Fest Short Featuring Beth Lipman’s “House Album” Explores the Meaning of the American Home
CDMC Director reflects on the short film’s special connections with the center, SoHE, and Wisconsin. Join the next CDMC Conversations event, featuring the artist and filmmaker, to learn more.
Refrangible Episode Two: A Maypole to Mark the Next Stage of Our Pandemic Realities
As the U.S. slowly reopens thanks to rising vaccination rates and declining COVID-19 infections, the traditional maypole celebration of springtime seems to be an especially apt way to transition out of a pandemic winter. The second episode of the CDMC’s new podcast, Refrangible, contemplates what this ritual may mean today.
Sofia Hagström Møller: Weaving Threads Through Time and Space, One Wild Year Later
At the 1-year anniversary of Sofia Hagström Møller’s weaving residency at UW, Nora Renick Rinehart sits down with Hagström Møller in her home studio in Copenhagen, and Marianne Fairbanks (in Madison), to reflect. They share how their plans evolved to suit pandemic limitations.