Sophia Downs’ “Short Silk Robe.”
None of the multi-textured, variably patterned art decorating the atrium at the Promega BioPharmaceutical Technology Center can be considered a true original. Samples of woven rugs, sheets of wallpaper and small-scale furniture are displayed next to their inspirations: pieces from a 13,000-article historical textile collection.
Promega’s 2019 Summer Art Showcase, Studying History, Designing the Future, features student works inspired by pieces from the vast Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection in the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology. A home economics professor of weaving, embroidery and textiles and interiors histories from 1927 until her death in 1968, Allen pioneered an ethnographic approach to textile study. She traveled the world, researching techniques and speaking with artisans about the cultural and historical significance of their work.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 4,000 piece collection’s bequest from Allen’s estate. It’s grown since — largely by donations — with textiles from 108 countries and 16 centuries.
“It’s a wonderful teaching collection because it’s global in nature and it also spans a really broad period of time,” says Marina Moskowitz, a professor of design studies at UW-Madison. “In terms of having both a range of techniques and cultures represented, it’s quite comprehensive.”
The impressive collection serves as a cross-disciplinary teaching tool. A class from the East Asian studies department views the Japanese kimonos and practices writing haiku based on them. A landscape architecture class in UW-Madison’s ag department used textiles depicting rural landscapes and botanical features as inspiration to design site plans. Cultural groups and arts and craft guilds also visit the collection.
In text accompanying the exhibit, textiles and fashion design student Molly Burki details the cultural significance of a woven 6-foot by 6-foot Peruvian bag. It was made to hold coca leaves, which can be given as a greeting, as thanks, a blessing or a spiritual offering, she writes. “This is not just a simple bag, it is a home for the coca leaves.”
Similar pieces, drawn from the school’s blog series celebrating the anniversary, reflect on the history, significance and influence of textiles, including a 15th century embroidered vestment, an American piece of woven jute carpet from the early Victorian movement against industrialization, and a French child’s coat from the 19th century.
“This [exhibit] is turning their museum and collection inside out to show that it’s a living breathing thing that the students are working with,” says Daniel Swadener, the exhibition’s curator and producer.
Teachers with textile-related classes generally schedule at least one visit to the collection each semester. Without this resource, students might be searching Pinterest for inspiration, says design studies instructor Yeonhee Cheong, a 2017 graduate of the program who works in the collection, preparing textiles for display.
“It’s great we can touch everything and kind of play with it, flipping it to see the back and front. If you are inspired by some specific piece, you can create something based on that,” she says.
Cheong’s work in the exhibit includes a sheet of contemporary silk-screened wallpaper with ribbons unwinding in gentle gray water, washed with tiny effervescent bubbles.
"Wall Hanging" by Christine Weiss.
Called “Wave Power,” the piece is based on symmetrical fabric patterns like those of late-19th century British textile designer William Morris.
Ella Mortenson was inspired by the palette and texture of an early 19th American coverlet in a red, cream and black block geometric design. Her furniture model, an assignment for an interior architecture studio course, is a vermillion-seated conversation chair that could fit in the palm of a hand. Its curved cream backs are decorated with red flower shapes. It sits on a black base covered by a red and cream rug.
The School of Human Ecology evolved in 1997 from the School of Home Economics. It promotes the value of occupations that have traditionally been considered women’s work.
The textile collection ranges from everyday goods, like mats and clothing, to elaborate and ceremonial costumes. “The breadth of objects in the collection shows textiles’ importance in our lives, as well as the histories and cultures of the artists that made them,” Moskowitz says. The textiles were generally created by women and people from classes and ethnic groups that haven’t been allowed strong voices in society.
“[The collection leaves] a record of people who don’t have as much of an opportunity to leave a written record. Maybe they weren’t the people who weren’t the big movers and shakers in politics, but they’re the people who were really contributing to the environment in everyday life,” says Moskowitz. “That something that Helen Louise Allen was interested in, and that’s what we’re interested in today.”
Studying History, Designing the Future is on display at Promega Corporation in Fitchburg (5445 E Cheryl Pkwy.) from 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday, through Sept. 1.
