Instagram story viewer> @uw_cdmc> Posts

CDMC

@uw_cdmc

2.7K

followers

1349

following

Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture, UW–Madison
Study of textiles, material culture, and design

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

We are thrilled to announce a new name and chapter for our center, the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture!

Nancy M. Bruce was an alumna of the School of Human Ecology and founding member of its Board of Visitors. She was connected to the center in many ways, including helping establish the Ruth Davis Design Gallery in 1990, as well as donating seven American quilts to the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection.

In honor of our new namesake, our 2025-26 exhibition season will be “Quilting Connections,” kicking off this fall with “Parallel Lines: Quilts and the American Landscape” and “Find Your Quilt.” These exhibitions will feature quilts from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection as well as contemporary makers.

The center has played a vital role in establishing the University of Wisconsin–Madison as a leader in research and teaching on design and material culture. This gift helps us continue our mission and expand discovery and learning opportunities in support of multi-disciplinary scholarship in connection with the study of textiles, material culture, and design.

Please join us this fall on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 as we celebrate this outstanding support and our 2025-26 exhibition season!

Learn more about our new name by clicking the link in our bio! Photo of a group of people in a gallery with blue walls looking at a butterfly quilt. taken in Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture by @uw_cdmc

113

4

a year ago

In 1926, Madison parents and Home Economics scholars came together with a shared belief: young children need opportunities to build relationships with one another.

What began in a borrowed kindergarten room at Luther Memorial Church soon moved to UW–Madison’s Practice Cottage in 1927, where eight to ten children spent their mornings playing, learning, and exploring. Behind room dividers and cloth screens, university students observed their activities, studying topics ranging from play and creativity to child development and psychology.

A century later, this small program has grown into the Child Development Lab (CDL), serving more than 70 children each year while providing research and learning opportunities for hundreds of university students. Its founding commitment to children‘s healthy development continues to guide the CDL’s work in education, research, and community engagement.

Explore this remarkable history in The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab, on view at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery in Nancy Nicholas Hall through February 28, 2027.

Image Credits:
Images 1–2: Images courtesy of the Nancy M. Bruce Center
Image 3: Photo by @svheartphotography by @uw_cdmc

16

0

19 hours ago

Pop-up Rose, included in k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design is from artist Felecia Davis's "Dreadlock Series" project. This project is part of her ongoing exploration of Black culture, its relationship to technology, and how these concepts translate into architectural design. Pop-up Rose is made of interlocking knit tubes that are an interpretation of a dreadlock. The piece was created on a domestic knitting machine and made to pop up in form following the Fibonacci sequence found in roses. The knitted cord structure used in this piece is sometimes called an i-cord, short for idiot cord, named by Wisconsin knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann. Through working the i-cord on the needles of the knitting machine, the work spirals around itself. Once in tension, Pop-up Rose transforms from a knit that lays flat to a conical shape. Pop-up Rose makes connections from the body to architecture and a look at what new technologies and ideas bring to the world of knit.

Davis works in architecture and textiles connects art, science, engineering and design. Davis is an Associate Professor at the Stuckeman Center for Design Computing in the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Pennsylvania State University and is the director of SOFTLAB@PSU. This lab is dedicated to developing soft computational materials and textiles and is used by Penn State students and faculty, industry and community partners engaged in collaborative research and projects. The point of the lab is to establish a culture of hands on making and thinking through computational materials and the lab links together research, teaching and practice. It was with SOFTLAB@PSU that Pop-up Rose was created collaboratively with Davis including the design and fabrication by Ian Danner with a stand designed and fabricated by Hiranshi Patel.

Photos 2, 3: Felecia Davis. taken in University of Wisconsin-Madison by @uw_cdmc

11

0

a day ago

Join us for a panel discussion with Small Matter curator Abubakar Muhammad, a graduate student in African Cultural Studies, on the topics of global soccer, the rag ball, street cultures of craft, and vibrant materiality and bricolage! Come Friday, October 23rd, from 10:00 to 11:30 am in the Wisconsin Idea Room (1199) to hear Abubakar in conversation with Gianofer Fields, Professor Nils Ringe, Professor Marcelo Pellegrini, Henry Obeng (MFA ’22), and Chazen curator Erica DiBenedetto. by @uw_cdmc

8

0

2 days ago

A red squiggle snakes throughout knit artist Marta Nowak’s Unraveling Myself (2024). Abstracted lightning bolts, organic bubbling surfaces, and interlaced knit strands coexist in her work, It Was Never About You. Nowak combines her skill in painting with fibers to create “knit paintings.” These pieces demonstrate the role knits play not just in fashion and in architectural works, but also in contemporary art.

Nowak integrates analog and digital processes when creating her knit pieces to map out yarn color placement. Row by row, Nowak “paints” with the yarn in her own inventive short rowing colorwork technique, which works as an alternative to traditional intarsia. This is done on a hand-operated flatbed domestic knitting machine. Short rowing, or partial knitting, is when a knitter knits across a section of a row while keeping other stitches on hold, allowing for areas of knits to be built up in one particular color.

In k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design, Nowak's two knit paintings invite a larger discussion on the role of colorwork in knit design. Nowak, an artist and knitwear designer, utilizes here short rowing technique in her sweater collections as well as in her artwork. Her knit paintings ask viewers to see knit as a viable medium and material for abstract art and expressing oneself creatively.

We are thrilled to know that Nowak will be featured in the upcoming @thedomesticmachine documentary about Machine Knitting & Online Craft Communities! taken in University of Wisconsin-Madison by @uw_cdmc

55

0

4 days ago

The exhibition k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design includes ten pairs of socks from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection. Utilitarian and part of our daily wear, socks are also incredible examples of knit design.

Today, as autumn settles in and on a day when so many are doing laundry and matching their own socks, we are re-reading Pablo Neruda's poem in honor of these gorgeous objects.

Ode to My Socks
Pablo Neruda (1904 –1973) translated by Robert Bly

Maru Mori brought me
a pair
of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft
as rabbits.
I slipped my feet
into them
as though into
two
cases
knitted
with threads of
twilight
and goatskin.
Violent socks,
my feet were
two fish made
of wool,
two long sharks
sea-blue, shot
through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons:
my feet
were honored
in this way
by
these
heavenly
socks.
They were
so handsome
for the first time
my feet seemed to me
unacceptable
like two decrepit
firemen, firemen
unworthy
of that woven
fire,
of those glowing
socks.

Nevertheless
I resisted
the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere
as schoolboys
keep
fireflies,
as learned men
collect
sacred texts,
I resisted
the mad impulse
to put them
into a golden
cage
and each day give them
birdseed
and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers
in the jungle who hand
over the very rare
green deer
to the spit
and eat it
with remorse,
I stretched out
my feet
and pulled on
the magnificent
socks
and then my shoes.

The moral
of my ode is this:
beauty is twice
beauty
and what is good is doubly
good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool
in winter. taken in University of Wisconsin-Madison by @uw_cdmc

29

0

6 days ago

Woodworker, artist, and educator Alex Clarke is also the Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture's preparator. Alex brought k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design to life. Only weeks into the job, Alex built walls, created displays, and thought through challenges and turned them into possibilities. We are incredibly grateful to Alex's work and dedication to highlighting the qualities and design of knit from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection and the contemporary artists who lent work for the exhibition.

Photos courtesy of Alex Clarke. taken in University of Wisconsin-Madison by @uw_cdmc

77

1

7 days ago

🎨Looking for a fun, free activity to do with your kiddos and/or friends this Saturday?

Tomorrow is the first of three workshops, Art Lab! Making with Linda.

Hosted in conjunction with our recent exhibition, “The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab,” these hands-on art making activities are geared towards children and their adults, though all are welcome!

Stop by tomorrow from 10:00 – 11:30 AM in the main lobby of Nancy Nicholas Hall to enjoy making art, exploring your creative side, and visiting our exhibition!

Registration encouraged – please see the link in our bio.

@uwsohe taken in UW-Madison School of Human Ecology by @uw_cdmc

70

2

8 days ago

What a heartwarming evening celebrating the opening of our Fall 2026 exhibitions!❤️

From heartfelt embraces and touching moments to the joy of children exploring hands-on activities, the galleries were filled with warmth, connection, and discovery. It was wonderful to see faculty, students, families, and community members come together at Nancy Nicholas Hall to share this special evening. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Fall 2026 Exhibitions Celebration!

Now on view at the Nancy M. Bruce Center:
🌱 The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab
Ruth Davis Design Gallery
On view through February 28, 2027

🧶 k1, p2: from Handknits to Computational Design @k1p2_2026
Lynn Mecklenburg Textile Gallery
On view through December 6, 2026

If you weren’t able to join us for the celebration, there’s still plenty of time to visit and experience both exhibitions. We hope to see you in the galleries soon!
📍 Nancy Nicholas Hall, UW–Madison

Special thanks to @svheartphotography for capturing this event. by @uw_cdmc

150

2

9 days ago

Distinguished visual artist and poet Jen Bervin is on campus this week as a guest of the Kohler Art Library! Listen to Jen’s pitch on why books are the best medium for artists and researchers, then check out her Thursday lecture, where she’ll discuss works like her artist book The Dickinson Composites. The book, shown here, includes samples of large-scale quilts Bervin meticulously embroidered with red crosses and dashes, capturing the enigmatic marking system poet Emily Dickinson used in her manuscripts.

💡 Ninth Annual Bernstein Book Arts Lecture Featuring Jen Bervin
📅 October 8 • 5PM
📍 L150 Elvejhem Building by @uw_cdmc

316

18

10 days ago

What a great morning!

@retracharas , @saffron.gonzalez , and Amy Lee Wagner joined @brianhstanding with the 8 O’clock Buzz on @wortfm this morning to talk about “The Science of Human Thriving: Celebrating 100 Years of the Child Development Lab.”

The exhibition is on view now through Feb. 28, 2027 in the Ruth Davis Design Gallery. Stop in and visit!
Link to the interview is in our bio

Sarah Anne Carter, Chipstone Foundation Design and Material Culture Chair, Associate Professor of Design Studies, and Executive Director, Nancy M. Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture

Saffron Gonzales, CDL Centennial Coordinator and Graduate Student in the School of Human Ecology

Amy Lee Wagner, Executive Director of Teaching and Research, Child Development Lab by @uw_cdmc

101

2

12 days ago

The center welcomes poet and visual artist Jen Bervin for two upcoming events!

On Wednesday, October 7 from 3:00 - 4:00 pm, Jen Bervin will lead a workshop focused on close reading of textile fragments from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, in collaboration with Sophie Pitman, the collection's Research Director. This workshop aims to connect participants through slow looking and collaborative thinking processes. There are limited spots for this workshop; register for free through the link in our bio!

On Thursday, October 8 at 5:00 pm, Jen Bervin will give the Ninth Annual Bernstein Book Arts Lecture, delivering a talk entitled “*You can almost feel the date”. For the past 8 years, Kohler Art Library has invited master book artists to engage with students and community members by sharing their creative processes. This is a public lecture and requires no registration. It will be held in room L150 of the Elvehjem Building. We hope to see you at either or both of these amazing interactive events! A close-up photograph of a woven textile. The background color is a muted dark blue, with cream color creating the small geometric flower designs. Between these repeated square motifs are cream colored circles that connect each part of the design together. by @uw_cdmc

40

1

13 days ago