Textiles have been central to human life for thousands of years. Used for both practical purposes (warmth, shelter, cleanliness, and health) and adornment (to express identity, taste, cultural traditions, and rites of passage) textiles have been made, used, and exchanged across almost every culture. Textiles are a lens through which researchers can study the world; whether they are interested in the history of technology, the possibilities of plant materials, the history of fashion, and everything in between. They enable us to uncover stories that might not be expressed in written texts or images, and to relate to people across time and space.
From natural fibers to cutting-edge synthetics, and from traditional weave structures to complex computer-designed hangings, textiles teach us about the past, connect us through the present, and pose opportunities and challenges for the future. They are objects and inspirations for design and material culture study, and connect disciplines across the UW–Madison campus and beyond.
Resources
Course Engagement
Class Visits
Many courses taught at UW–Madison come to visit the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection once or twice over the course of a semester to study textile objects that are relevant to a specific unit or topic covered in a class. Class visits can be booked using the button below. Please note, this booking form does not require the instructor to have a fully-formed class idea, but can be used to begin conversations with collection staff about a potential visit.
We work with classes across campus, and can connect textiles to a wide range of disciplinary perspectives and learning objectives. Here are a few examples to show a wide variety of possibilities for class engagements:
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Consumer Studies 355, Financial Coaching
All students of financial coaching visit the collection to do a close looking exercise exploring how objects reflect and communicate a wide range of human values. What might a Hmong baby carrier or a German schoolgirl’s darning sampler teach us about the many values that people hold?
African 202: Stylin’ and Profilin’ ⎻ From Lagos to Los Angeles
In this FIG (First Year Interest Group) class, students explore the politics and art of African textiles. Having read about traditional African textiles such as kente cloth and adinkra cloth beforehand, students identify and handle examples of these in person. Looking at examples of fashionable clothing and yardage printed with political symbols from the 20th and 21st centuries in the collection, students also explore how techniques and motifs are adapted into contemporary and political fashions.
Horticulture 351, Plants and Human Wellbeing
Horticulture students handle and explore the collection to discover the many ways plants are used to create textiles and dyes. Ancient linen fabric and contemporary fiber art alike show how plants can be both the raw materials of and the inspiration for textile design. Students apply their knowledge of plant structures and characteristics and discuss how textile designers harness these material properties to create useful and beautiful textiles.
Design Studies 501 - Digital Weaving (Zeroes and Ones)
In this class, experienced weavers visit the collection to see how jacquard-woven and industrially-woven textiles – a wide range from self-portrait artworks to complex double-weave coverlets – have evolved over time. Students use this as inspiration for studio projects such as designing industrially woven blankets.
Collection – Intensive Courses
We offer deeper collection engagement through our Collection-Intensive Course program. In partnership with university faculty and instructors, we support courses centered around objects from the collection, using them as a “material textbook” that guides class discussions and projects. Outcomes for these courses may include object research for the collection, a class exhibition proposal for our galleries, videos, podcasts or programs, publications, public lectures, outreach, and more. Please contact Dr. Sophie Pitman, Pleasant Rowland Textile Specialist and Research Director of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, if you are interested in developing this for your course.
Below are examples of previous Collection-Intensive Courses:
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Design Studies 699: Independent Study: Textiles and American Politics
Course Description:
This year-long, 4-credit course used the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection as the basis for training in curatorial research and outreach on the relationship between textiles and American politics. Students conducted a thorough survey of the collection to identify objects that are relevant for this topic; drew key themes from this extensive sample of textiles; conceptualized an exhibition structure; and devised related public outreach events. Students focused on what practices of making, consumption, and display “activates” textiles to make them political; the relationship between politics, patriotism, and history; and acts of participation and representation as the intersection of textiles and political expression.
This Collection-Intensive Course resulted in the exhibition, Politics at Home: Textiles as American History, on view in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery from September 1 – November 14, 2021.
Art History 576/876: Needle, Thread, Silk and Tapestry
Course Description:
Why should we include textiles when discussing Chinese art history? What is the relationship between textile and other media such as painting, mural, sculpture, and various decorative arts? How do we start treating textile as an object of research? Based on the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection and recent scholarship on Chinese textile art, this course will discuss the major types of textiles and the discourses on textiles in the early modern China and introduce students to the analytical languages, methods, and issues for studying Chinese textiles. We will examine the multivalent roles of textiles in Chinese art and material culture—as artistic mediums, sign-bearing objects, structural and performative elements in religious and secular spaces, social agent, and objects of mobility in global exchange.
ART HIST 506 : Curatorial Studies Exhibition Practices
Course Description:
Preparation of an exhibition one of the many exhibition spaces on campus. Help conceptualize the exhibition and its layout, research and interpret individual objects, prepare wall texts for the display and other materials published in print or online in conjunction with the exhibition. The specific focus will be different each time the course is taught.
This Collection-Intensive Course resulted in the exhibition, Social Threads: Making, Mending, and Maintaining Community in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery from September 13 – December 3, 2023.
Affiliated Programs
The Center for Design and Material Culture collaborates with textile programs offered through the Design Studies Department in the School of Human Ecology through course engagements, exhibitions in our galleries, research visits to the collection, and more. We also offer a number of student employment and fellowship opportunities available to all UW–Madison students.
Textiles and Fashion Design Program
Textiles & Fashion Design (TFD) Bachelor of Science degree merges design, sustainability, and retailing. Students engage in studio projects and coursework covering historical and contemporary design.
Textiles and Design Certificate
The certificate in Textiles and Design allows students from any major to gain a fundamental understanding of the creative and innovative application of textiles and visual design.
Design Studies, MFA, PhD
The focus of the MFA degree is on creative performance in design. The PhD program is the highest degree in the field of design research and scholarship, and is grounded in the production of original and rigorous research.
