UW-Green Bay’s Alison Gates to be featured in solo exhibition, “Points of Departure”

Fiber and Textiles Professor, Alison Gates, will be featured in solo exhibition, “Points of Departure” at the James Watrous Gallery in Madison, WI.

Alison Gates works primarily in textiles, using knitting and embroidery to explore issues of gender, climate change, and the way language and cultural traditions shift over time, or in different contexts. Adding subtly embroidered words to printed textiles, she creates a quiet disturbance, a whisper of new meaning that shifts the pattern in unexpected directions.

This exhibition will also include her Global Warming series of wool bikinis, hand-knitted using traditional patterns from northern Europe. These beautifully made bikinis use humor to raise a serious question. As the climate warms, what will happen to these knitting traditions, which are such important markers of cultural identity? Will they disappear like other traditions and skills that no longer suit the local climate, or evolve to suit the changing conditions?

To view her recent work, click here.