One of A Kind Ahead of Her Time: The Legacy of Helen Louise Allen

press release: January 27 - April 18, 2019, Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery, Nancy Nicholas Hall | UW-Madison | 1300 Linden Drive Madison WI 53706. Gallery hours: Monday – Thursday, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm.

Gallery grand opening: SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 1-3 PM; Ribbon cutting and remarks at 1:30 pm. RSVP here (by Jan. 18).

One of A Kind Ahead of Her Time: The Legacy of Helen Louise Allen, the inaugural exhibition of the new Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery and launch of the 50th anniversary celebration.

Selections representative of her international travels will be on view in conjunction with the exhibition Applique to Zardozi: An Anniversary Sampler on display in the adjacent Ruth Davis Design Gallery 

Professor Helen Louise Allen had a lifelong passion for handwork and the creative crafts.  If she were still alive, she would fit right in with society’s current revitalization of the artisanal, the handmade, and the one-of-a-kind.  This inaugural exhibition in the new Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery coincides with the 50th anniversary of Helen Allen’s gift of her personal teaching collection to the UW-Madison.  One of A Kind Ahead of Her Time: The Legacy of Helen Louise Allen invites you to consider, a woman, a collector, and an educator whose attention to textiles as fascinating carriers of human culture remains relevant in today’s diverse and globalized world.