Each Little World

Fiber Friday: Two campus galleries

Design Gallery at UW-Madison

If you haven't already seen it, don't miss the enthralling exhibit — Laura Anderson Barbata: Transcommunality — at the Ruth Davis Design Gallery on the UW Madison campus through Friday, November 21. The gallery is located in Nancy Nicholas Hall, in the School of Human Ecology. It's a fiber fantasy filled with rich colors, textures, costumes in wildly varying scales and motifs, along with a number of fascinating videos. 

November 20, 5 pm - Mexican Textiles Up Close in Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection with Carolyn Kallenborn: Associate Professor, Design Studies, UW-Madison. Her film, "Woven Lives," examines the role of art and design in cultural sustainability.

Edgewood College Gallery

Photo by Carolyn Kallenborn

La Luz y La Sombra (The Light and The Shadow)

This textile and video installation is also the work of Carolyn Kallenborn, Associate Professor in Design Studies, UW-Madison. Inspiration for her art comes from the rich cultural exchange through collaborations with textile artisans in Oaxaca, Mexico. The exhibit runs hrough November 7.

Remembrance and Celebration:

Day of the Dead Altars

This is a community art project with over 175 personal altars. Through November 7, 2014

Day of the Dead Festival
Saturday, November 1

6:30 pm: Dying to Cross Candlelight Vigil @ Stream Amphitheatre
7pm: Premiere of La vida y los muertos @ Diane Ballweg Theatre
8 pm: Outdoor Candlelight Procession wiith Larger than life puppets, UW World Percussion Ensemble, and the Forward Marching Band
8:45: Danztrad @ Stream Atrium
9 pm: 2nd screening of film

Until 11pm: Food and music by DJ Ken Horn

Having seen Kallenborn's film on textile artists in Oaxaca, I am looking forward to this new film. Here is a trailer for the film. See Edgewood College Gallery @ The Stream for details.

 

New garden art

Friends who have a lovely garden that includes many architectural fragments called us just about a year ago to let us know that a Madison monument company was closing and was selling off their stock. Mark went to take a look and came back with two pieces. 

The one below — the word "center" — is supposedly from the old Madison Art Center. Who could resist that provenance? What's even better is that the letter "C" has darkened, making the word look like "enter" at a quick glance. I want to set the stone vertically — near our garden's entry path — with the "C" mostly buried!   

Mark also came home with this gravestone. I was taken aback to say the least. Not that it bothered me to have such a monument in the garden, but because we were making an effort to edit the art we put in the garden and I wasn't sure if this "fit." But it is definitely a conversation piece! The text reads:

Mary.

Wife of William Lavin

died April 5, 1868

aged 84 years

Native of Co. Sligo, Ireland

May she rest in peace. Amen.

What an eventful life she must have had, judging from that bit of information on her stone. And what a strong woman she must have been to live to such a great age in that era. I wish we knew more about her.

Mark asked why the monument company had an old gravestone for sale. He thought perhaps it had been vandalized and taken from a cemetary. That's not the case. Apparently old stones are often replaced with new ones; sometimes families add more names or just want one that is legible again. We saw a number of clearly new stones at the Hauge Log Church over the weekend with 19th C. names and dates carved in them. This monument — to an important member of the Hauge Church — has both the original and a new stone in place.