Learning about the state we serve
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 …
Water@UW–Madison hosts an annual photo contest, accepting submissions for both artistic photos and pet photos. This year, the top 3 images in the artistic category were won by 2019 WIS participant Christian Andresen and WIS intern Bethany Prochnow. In first place was Andresen’s “Wisconsin Veins”, followed by Prochnow’s second-place “Trout Lake Sunset”, and Andresen’s “Arctic …
Residents, government officials, and storytellers recently gathered together at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve in La Farge to celebrate a story-telling project focused on the area flooding in late 2018. Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, a UW–Madison professor, brought undergraduate students together with the Driftless Writing Center to collaborate with local Kickapoo Valley residents affected by the floods, …
Lyn Macgregor, associate director of the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies, is a community sociologist. She participated in the 2017 River Tour and collaborated with the 2019 River Tour. Macgregor received her B.A. from Boston University and her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her dissertation, an ethnographic study of Viroqua, Wisconsin, was …
Teal VanLanen, Director of Improvement & Community Engagement for the Algoma School District, spoke on October 3rd at a panel presentation presented in collaboration with the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. “Communities do hold the solutions and have the power to make sustainable, equitable changes for health and opportunity for all,” says VanLanen. In May of …
Dr. James DeLine, a rural healthcare provider in Wisconsin’s southwestern Vernon County, shares his experiences of practicing family medicine since 1983. DeLine works closely with specialists at UW–Madison to provide unique genetic testing for Plain community members, many with rare conditions. In 2019 and 2017 the Wisconsin Idea Seminar traveled to visit Dr. DeLine at …
Luke Zahm, owner and chef of Driftless Cafe and television host of Wisconsin Foodie, welcomed 2019 Wisconsin Idea Seminar participants to his restaurant last May. A UW–Madison ‘03 grad and La Farge local, Luke was able to share perspective on food and how his identity as a chef is deeply rooted in and shaped by …
The Wisconsin Idea Seminar’s 2019 River Tour was five days packed full with so much learning about Wisconsin life. Rivers provided our narrative frame as we discussed and experienced the cultural, educational, industrial, social, and political realities of the state. Our bus traveled from places like Milwaukee’s Sherman Phoenix, a vibrant hub for entrepreneurs of color, …
Sherry Wagner-Henry, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at UW–Madison, and her team will lead a creative placemaking workshop this summer for artists, arts and cultural leaders and workers, urban and rural planners, BID staff, Main Street and neighborhood association staff and volunteers, and anyone else interested in arts-based community development. The workshop …