Learning about the state we serve
After learning how to create a warp with cattails, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants began to weave, methodically crossing cattail fibers to create a small mat, talking and meditating on the meaning of their project.
WIS’22 alum Alvin Thomas, assistant professor in Human Development and Family Studies in the School of Human Ecology co-authors a piece in Salon. “As researchers who study the role of fathers in the lives and development of their children, we couldn’t help but notice a pattern. Headline after headline decried the crisis facing parents, yet …
Faisal Abdu’Allah, a professor and the Chazen Family Distinguished Chair in Art at UW–Madison, is a printmaker and a trained barber whose artworks explore race, culture and identity. His most recent work is a 7-foot limestone statue of himself that he designed and was created using a robotic tool and the skills of a master …
Marianne Fairbanks, textile artist and assistant professor of Design Studies at UW–Madison’s School of Human Ecology, has been sharing her book weaving tutorial videos with not only her students but with the general public. What started as a training video for the two courses she is teaching this spring is now available to everyone. Fairbanks …
Four Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants have received Distinguished Teaching Awards this year, an honor that recognizes their teaching and celebrates their hard work. William Brockliss, WIS’13, is an associate professor of classical and ancient near eastern studies. Kathleen Culver, WIS’12, is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication. Erica Halverson, WIS’07, is a professor …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer at Mystic Valley Dairy in Sauk City, and Kent Weigel, livestock geneticist and chair of UW–Madison’s dairy science department, passionately explained some current struggles associated with dairy farming in a recent article for Wisconsin State Farmer. Breunig welcomed the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to his 400-cow operation in 2018, where Weigel helped …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer and UW–Madison alumnus, was elected as chair of the Dairy Innovation Hub advisory council. In this new position, Breunig will work to assemble the council, set agendas, and provide guidance to the Dairy Innovation Hub’s faculty director: UW–Madison dairy scientist and WIS’13 alumna Heather White. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited …
Beginning on February 1 and extending until May 10, the Faculty Exhibition 2020 will be on display in the Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries and throughout the Chazen Art Museum. Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant Tomiko Jones (WIS ’19) is showing three tricolor gum prints over cyanotype, inspired by a collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints in the Van …
Marianne Fairbanks, textile artist and assistant professor of Design Studies, recently launched a new weaving loom in response to a previous social practice project. Her new hand-held looms work to extend access to weaving so that new ideas can be explored in relation to textiles, community, and making. Fairbanks teaches a weaving course, where students …
Tomiko Jones, assistant art professor at UW–Madison and 2019 Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant, recently received a Seed Grant Award for the Arts. Titled “These Grand Places”, the photography-based narrative communicates a socially engaged public land project. Jones’s project documents the lived experience and connections between land and people, working with experts across the nation. Two …