Using Unconventional Materials to Address Society’s Wicked Problems
Much like the artists whose work is featured in the exhibition Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in 1930s United States, apparel design students from the University of Minnesota College of Design, Studio III course were tasked with responding to the current moment through the lens of design. Design, like art, offers imagination to not only solve the problems in front of us, but to imagine and create an alternative future than the one we seem headed for. From proposed solutions for a fashion industry plagued by labor and environmental injustices to the use of clothing as a tool to help those in their communities, the exhibition Pressing Issues was used as a prompt to push students to move beyond designing for consumption. This created an opportunity for designers to apply their skill set to develop new ways of thinking and working, and to use new approaches required for living with and solving wicked, systemic and intersecting issues.
During the spring semester of 2021, Weisman Art Museum Director of Public Programs and Student Engagement, Katie Covey Spanier, collaborated with Lindsey Strange, UMN College of Design Professor of Apparel Design, on a unique curriculum integration project. Students from the College of Design studied the museum’s spring exhibition, Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in 1930s United States, and were prompted to use unconventional materials to create a unique garment that responds to pressing issues of our time. The…
Distraction by Isabel Atkinson Isabel Atkinson is a second-year apparel design student at the University of Minnesota. She is inspired by avant-garde design, digital nighttime aesthetics featuring colored lights and dark cityscapes (think cyberpunk but less punk), and intriguing silhouettes. This is reflected in her apparel, through the repetition of large shapes across the body, and in her art through dark luminescent colors and drawings. In the future, shes hope to become a freelance illustrator, while designing avant-garde runway and…
Past, Pride & Future by Zoë Weinmann Zoë Weinmann is a sophomore in the Apparel Design Program at the University of Minnesota. Zoë is inspired by diversity and minimalism and likes to design for or plus-sized individuals. Zoë is also interested in creating gender-neutral clothing. They use mostly neutral colors and construct silhouettes that are creative yet versatile. They hope to carry these aesthetics into their career, as their dream is to create a versatile, capsule collection-based company for plus-sized…
