Social Threads: Making, Mending and Maintaining Community reception

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photo by Dakota Mace/courtesyCenter for Design and Material Culture

A colorful quilt.

An 1840s era quilt by an unknown artist.

Textiles have a long human history and their production has often been a social endeavor rather than something made in a country far far away and sold at a mall. Think of quilting bees, knitting groups, and the stories depicted on tapestries that are handed down from generation to generation. The exhibit “Social Threads: Making, Mending and Maintaining Community” draws from objects in the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. The show was curated by 18 students from the UW-Madison Art History seminar “Curatorial Studies Exhibition Practice” and runs through Dec. 3; an opening reception takes place from 4-6 p.m. on Sept. 21.

media release: Social Threads: Making, Mending, and Maintaining Community

September 13, 2023 - December 3, 2023, Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery

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. Social Threads: Making, Mending and Maintaining Community 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.

Social Threads is curated by 18 students from the UW-Madison Art History seminar, Curatorial Studies Exhibition Practice. This exhibition was made possible with generous support from the Anonymous Fund.

There will be a public opening reception on September 21, 2023 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm in the Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery at Nancy Nicholas Hall.  Additional programming is forthcoming and will be added to the Center for Design and Material Culture events page in the coming weeks.