#block-printed textiles

Milwaukee Handicraft Monday: 

Stripe Extravaganza 

These block printed textiles, printed with delightfully dizzying details caught my eye today! 

The originals are courtesy of volumes 3 and 7 of Applied Design; Blockprinted Textiles. An educational service prepared by the Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project. The images shown here, however,  we’ve sourced from the our digital collection The Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA. This digital collection was made possible with generous financial support provided by The Chipstone Foundation.

The MHP was founded in 1935 by Harriet Clinton, head of the Women’s Division of Wisconsin’s WPA to help unskilled women laborers provide income for their families. Clinton hired Elsa Ulbricht, an art professor at the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College (one of UWM’s predecessor institutions), to direct the project. The MHP hired around 5,000 people in total throughout its highly successful seven-year existence. Read More about the Project. Or, explore more of our Milwaukee Handicraft Monday posts. 

Milwaukee Handicraft Monday 

Today we present photographs that document the skills learned and work done by participants of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project. The photographs show off upholstered furniture goods created by participants, as well as a man demonstrating upholstering techniques.  The originals of these photographs come from the Elsa Emile Ulbricht Papers (UWM Mss 59, box 2, folder 10 as well as box 3, folder 7).

We have a block-printed sample on fabric of the pattern (shown at top) that appears in the curtains in the top photograph. The pattern in the chair that appears in the final photographs looked familiar, but it doesn't appear that we hold a sample of it. Instead we are showing a similar block-printed linear pattern that would also have been used for surface decoration of upholstery. Both of these patterns may be found in our multi-volume set Applied Design Blockprinted Textiles. An educational service prepared by the Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project. All the images shown hear are from our digital collection The Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA, which has many more photographs of participants at work and we encourage our viewers to peruse the collection or, view our other Milwaukee Handicraft Monday posts.

The MHP was founded in 1935 by Harriet Clinton, head of the Women’s Division of Wisconsin’s WPA to help unskilled women laborers provide income for their families. Clinton hired Elsa Ulbricht, an art professor at the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College (one of UWM’s predecessor institutions), to direct the project. The MHP hired around 5,000 people in total throughout its highly successful seven-year existence. Read More about the Project.

The Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA digital collection was made possible with generous financial support provided by The Chipstone Foundation.

Milwaukee Handicraft Monday 

Today we present more photographs that document the skills learned and work done by participants of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project. In addition to weaving and printing textiles, participants learned to craft other types of functional art such as furniture. Shown here are photographs documenting a few examples. The originals of these digital copies are located the Elsa Emile Ulbricht Papers  (UWM Mss 59,box 3, folder 7).

When we were working with these images, we noticed that the wall hangings in the first and last room photographs were block-printed fabrics that were also produced by artisans in the Milwaukee Handicraft project, which we also hold and show here. The top image of the “Peasant Couple” is found in Volume 5 of Applied design Blockprinted Textiles. An educational service prepared by the Milwaukee WPA Handicraft Project. The bottom image is a full, block-printed fabric entitled “Rubayat” by Barbara Warrren, one of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project’s principl designers. 

The Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA digital collection has many more photographs of participants at work and we encourage our viewers to explore the collection or, view our other Milwaukee Handicraft Monday posts.

The MHP was founded in 1935 by Harriet Clinton, head of the Women’s Division of Wisconsin’s WPA to help unskilled women laborers provide income for their families. Clinton hired Elsa Ulbricht, an art professor at the Milwaukee State Teacher’s College (one of UWM’s predecessor institutions), to direct the project. The MHP hired around 5,000 people in total throughout its highly successful seven-year existence. Read More about the Project.

The Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA digital collection was made possible with generous financial support provided by The Chipstone Foundation.