Esther Cho, Heather Kohlmeier, Veronica Y. Pham

media release: Join us in the celebration of the work by Esther Cho, Heather Kohlmeier, and Veronica Y. Pham, on view in the Center for Design and Material Culture’s Ruth Davis Design Gallery from March 21 - April 12, 2024. Displayed as three distinct installations, each exhibit shares work that is the culmination of their study in the Design Studies Department for the Master of Fine Arts in Human Ecology. School of Human Ecology Professor of Design Studies, Mary Hark, explains, “Heather, Esther, and Veronica’s respective thesis presentations represent the culmination of three years of intensive applied research. Each of these artists have mined their lived experience, presenting work that is at once personal while simultaneously speaking to issues that are universal. To create these works, these three artists have become masterful makers, using relevant, traditional craft techniques to express content. These exhibitions represent a strong foundation for their emerging creative practices.”

Please see below for information on each maker and exhibition:

Tangible Secrets | Esther Cho

In Tangible Secrets, Cho combines papermaking processes and jiseung, a Korean paper weaving technique, to express impulses in the form of secrets that are no longer repressed; rather, they are validated and expressed in tangible form. Secrets collected from restroom walls can provide a raw and anonymous glimpse into individuals' thoughts and experiences. This unconventional approach to gathering stories can yield a diverse range of emotions, perspectives, and narratives. Cho transforms personal narratives into complex vessel-like sculptures, playing with form and color. Tangible Secrets also features a participatory installation providing visitors with a space to share their secrets privately, transforming the space into a shared environment where people can connect through the act of sharing secrets, fostering a sense of community and engagement.

Esther Cho is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and papermaker based in Madison, WI. Her research-based studio practice focuses on devising narrative installations for archiving the history and retelling the stories of marginalized communities, children of immigrants, and the Asian diasporas to consider the experience of identity, gender, loss of lineage, and cultural disconnect. She holds a dual BFA in Craft & Material Studies and Interior Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. In 2017, she received the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship from the Center of Crafts to travel to South Korea to study the process of making hanji (Korean mulberry paper) and its related craft forms.

Inside Out | Heather Kohlmeier

Inside Out explores the nature of comfort and impermanence within and around the body. Using materials such as delicate handmade paper, fine fiber, and skeletal-like wooden structures Kohlmeier creates several works, each evoking a different sensation within the viewer. These works invite the audience to assess their relationship to their body and the space they inhabit.

Kohlmeier is an interdisciplinary artist, papermaker, and educator. Process and material are central to her making practice and inspire her creation of both functional and sculptural forms. These forms are often a study of translucency, as well as the relationship of strength and fragility found within the natural world. She has shown work nationally and internationally.

THE LINE ALONG THE KNOT | Veronica Y. Pham

THE LINE ALONG THE KNOT focuses on traditional craft processes including, Vietnamese papermaking, Chinese knotting, and netting that reexamines a personal connection to these techniques while asking significant broader questions around migration, cyclical histories, and multi-cultural identity. The exhibition is constructed using a single material–paper mulberry, a plant that has survived centuries of migration from East and Southeast Asia to areas in North America. Pham constructs large scale nets from paper mulberry in a maze-like form as a metaphor to prompt viewers to ask questions about the complexities around identity and migration. The installation of this body of work will also be a site host to invite Pham’s mother to interpret the installation site through music where she will play the guzheng (Chinese traditional zither) and explore the connections of personal heritage and voyage.

Veronica Y Pham works primarily in handmade paper and fiber arts in her studio practice. Her work focuses on traditional craft specific to Vietnamese and Chinese histories to spark conversation on the ideas of process, labor, cultural identity, and memory. The materials in her work are often environmental investigations about local ecology and place. Pham continues to work with traditional and contemporary papermakers in Vietnam with a focus on collaborative projects and research. She was most recently a part of the Paper is People: Decolonizing Global Paper Cultures group exhibition at the San Francisco Center for the Book which looks at paper within a global and decolonial framework. Pham holds a BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and lives in the Midwest region of the United States where she enjoys incorporating local hemp in her papermaking practice.

Opening reception for these exhibitions will be Friday, April 5 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.. To learn more about these exhibits and upcoming related programs, visit cdmc.wisc.edu or sign up to receive the latest gallery news and events by email.

The Ruth Davis Design Gallery, hosts exhibitions and public programs that strive to educate and engage diverse audiences in design within their historical and cultural contexts. It is open Wednesday–Friday, 10 am–4 pm (Thursdays until 7 pm), and Saturday–Sunday, 12 pm–4 pm. Admission is free.

The Center for Design and Material Culture is the primary destination for the multi-disciplinary study of material culture and design at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, with particular focus on the study of textiles, material culture, and design thinking. This vision is supported by the enriching resources of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, two galleries, the Ruth Davis Design Gallery and the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery, and the Dorothy O’Brien Innovation Lab.

The students, faculty, staff, and researchers in the Design Studies department at UW–Madison study the production, process, and impact of design. Through scholarship, analysis, curriculum, and outreach, we advocate design as an encompassing discipline central to every aspect of life. We emphasize and promote a multi-disciplinary, global approach to design, and we value connections, nationally and internationally, with other campus, community, and professional programs.

The School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison was founded in 1903. For over a century, it has promoted real-world, problem-solving research and teaching to improve the quality of life for children, families, consumers, and communities.