Mending: Community Repair in Madison

media release: Explore mending across Madison through a series of events hosted in partnership by Madison Public Library, The Mending Project, the James Watrous Gallery, and Center for Design and Material Culture at UW-Madison's School of Human Ecology. Tour two amazing exhibitions, learn how volunteers do free mending for the local community, and pick up a needle yourself at a visible mending workshop! 

"I'm so impressed by the all-volunteer mending project at Madison Public Library and the student-curated exhibition Social Threads at the School of Human Ecology. Together with MEND, our exhibition at the Watrous Gallery, these projects address the work of repair from so many different angles -- mending clothes, mending hearts, mending social ills, and more. Please join us for one or all of these events; I guarantee you will leave with a lot to think about!" - Jody Clowes, James Watrous Gallery Director.   

Schedule of Events:

11am: Tour of The Mending Project at Madison Central Library

12:30pm: Exhibition tour of MEND: the work of repair at the James Watrous Gallery

2:30pm: Exhibition tour of Social Threads at the School of Human Ecology

3:00pm: Visible Mending Workshop at the School of Human Ecology

Starting at Madison Public Library’s Central Library from 11am-12pm, The Sewing Machine Project will host a tour of the free, volunteer supported mending services available weekly to community members through their initiative, The Mending Project. Learn how this project has brought together disparate elements: sewers, machines, librarians, library spaces, library patrons and broken textiles to enrich conversations, community, skills, and relationships. Volunteer menders and coordinators, as well as their library partners, will share the history of the program and stories of their experience. Gain tips on how to begin your own community mending program or explore volunteering with us. The mending session can be observed in room 211 and a Q+A will be presented in the Local History Room on the second floor. 

At 12:30pm, walk across the block to the Overture Center for the Arts for a tour of MEND: the work of repair at the James Watrous Gallery with exhibition curator Jody Clowes. MEND features textile works by Heidi Parkes and sculpture by Glenn Williams, Siara Berry, Sylvie Rosenthal, and Jaymee Harvey Willms, artists whose work touches on diverse aspects of mending and repair. This exhibition was curated in the hopes of inspiring visitors to consider the repairs that could be made in their lives and communities, one step at a time. There is so much in the wider world that needs repair right now. It can feel impossible to respond in a meaningful way, or even identify the tools and skills that could make a difference. But small, close-to-home efforts do matter. Whether it's fixing a wheelchair, restoring a wetland, mending pants or mending a heart, the quiet work of repair sends out ripples of hope.  

At 2:30pm, visit the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery at UW-Madison's School of Human Ecology for a tour of Social Threads: Making, Mending and Maintaining Community. This exhibition brings together objects from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection that exemplify how textiles constitute and sustain communities. Through three central themes, making, mending, and maintaining, Social Threads emphasizes how, through textiles, communities around the globe can share stories and create change. Through design and creation, textile making practices have the capacity to build community, reconcile trauma, share history, and carry cultural heritage and knowledge across generations. It is the practice of making and mending that allows space for listening, growth, and even change. 

Finally, learn the art and craft of two visible mending practices, darning and Sashiko stitching, with Mitch Frank, teaching faculty in sewn construction at UW-Madison's School of Human Ecology in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery. In this hands-on workshop you will have the opportunity to apply these new techniques to your own mending project while considering the rich history and contemporary practices of mending on display at the Watrous Gallery and Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery. Needles, thread, and some scrap fabric will be provided, but feel free to bring any materials you'd like to work with. 

More on the exhibit:

On View: August 18 to November 5, 2023; Artists' Reception: Sunday, September 24, 5:30-7:30 pm

MEND: the work of repair is a group exhibition that features textile works by Heidi Parkes (Milwaukee) and sculpture by Glenn Williams (Milwaukee), Siara Berry (Cudahy), Sylvie Rosenthal (Madison), and Jaymee Harvey Willms (Milwaukee), artists whose work touches on diverse aspects of mending and repair. "I hope this exhibition will inspire you to think about the repairs you might make in your own lives and communities, one stitch or one step at a time," said MEND curator and Watrous Gallery Director Jody Clowes. "There is so much in the wider world that needs repair right now. It can feel impossible to respond in a meaningful way, or even identify the tools and skills that could make a difference. But small, close-to-home efforts do matter. Whether it's fixing a wheelchair, restoring a wetland, mending pants or mending a heart, the quiet work of repair sends out ripples of hope. It's a reminder that most often, the way forward starts one small step at a time."

Heidi Parkes’ wonderfully idiosyncratic hand-sewn quilts are often imbued with the work of emotional or physical healing. She also offers mending for family, friends, and clients, using bold, expressive stitches that transform well-worn clothing into wearable works of art. Williams’ poignant Prosthetic series explores the complexity and the limitations of assistive devices which, while transformative for users, can also present their own challenges. His architectural works reflect the seemingly intractable challenge of housing insecurity with admirable economy, quietly underlining both the injustice and the obvious solution for the unhoused. 

Siara Berry also offers a critique of American housing systems, incorporating real estate signs and welcome mats to raise questions about access, affordability, and other barriers to home ownership. Her sculptures of brooms, mops, and dustpans address messy household situations with a more personal lens. With multiple handles and forms or materials that frustrate their function, they conjure both the effort it takes to resolve an unsettled domesticity and the need to work together to repair old conflicts. 

Sylvie Rosenthal is grappling with a sculpture of huge wooden hands she made years ago that recently came back to her studio. Its commission was severely complicated by an old, unhealthy relationship, and getting it back unearthed a tangle of feelings. Rather than bury the piece in deep storage, Rosenthal has embraced the opportunity to refurbish and reclaim it. This act of physical and emotional mending is a natural adjunct to her practice: she also teaches classes in repairing and altering old furniture. For Jaymee Willms, a personal tragedy led her to shift from painting to sculpture, breaking and reworking found objects in a conscious project of mending her family’s experience. Willms’ mended lamps are lopsided melanges of bric-a-brac laced with scars, yet they have a peculiar grace; and they work, shining light on the possibility of renewal and repair.

Admission is free and the public is welcome. The James Watrous Gallery is located on the third floor of Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison. These exhibitions are made possible in part by a grant from Madison Arts Commission and Wisconsin Arts Board. The James Watrous Gallery is dedicated to celebrating Wisconsin artists. A program of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters, the Watrous Gallery focuses on solo exhibits by contemporary Wisconsin artists and curated shows that reflect the Wisconsin Academy's interest in drawing connections between art and other disciplines.

Related Events

Artists' Reception Sunday, September 24, 2023 - 5:30 - 7:30 pm Artists’ talks begin at 6:00 pm James Watrous Gallery • in Overture Center for the Arts • Madison. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments available.

Gallery Talk: Sunday, October 8, 2023 - 2:00 - 3:00 pm, James Watrous Gallery: Join the Wisconsin Academy at the gallery for artist talks from Glenn Williams, Siara Berry, and Sylvie Rosenthal, artists whose work is featured in MEND: the work of repair. This is a free, informal event open to the public and a great opportunity to engage with these artists and their work.

Mending: Community Repair in Madison: Nov. 2, various locations:

For more information, see wisconsinacademy.org/gallery

The Wisconsin Academy creates opportunities for people to connect, learn, and collaborate to improve life in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Academy showcases contemporary Wisconsin art at the James Watrous Gallery, examines science and culture in Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine, and explores pathways to a sustainable future through the Climate and Energy Initiative. Academy programs and public talks provide opportunities to learn and explore, while making connections with curious and creative people across Wisconsin. The Academy recognizes excellence through the annual Fiction & Poetry Awards and Fellows Awards for leadership in and across disciplines. We also support the Wisconsin Poet Laureate and many other endeavors that help the Academy create a better world by connecting Wisconsin people and ideas. The James Watrous Gallery receives ongoing support from the Great Performance Fund at the Madison Community Foundation and the membership of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters. Programming is supported in part by grants from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts and the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.