Cross-cultural Conversations Drive New Kohler Art Exhibit

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Photo via John Michael Kohler Arts Center

'When Threads Meet, They Speak' - John Michael Kohler Arts Center

'When Threads Meet, They Speak' installation at John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (2026)

Art often functions as the translation of emotions, thoughts and ideas shared through the talents of artists in attempts to engender viewers’ appreciation and understanding. Those same conversations occur among individuals, communities, and even cultures. Such is the case with “When Threads Meet, They Speak”, a new textile arts and objects installation scheduled to open June 27 at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan.

The modest display of just 13 examples of textile art, jewelry and ceremonial instruments is drawn from the museum’s nearly 500-piece collection of textile works from the HMong-Miao (310 pieces), Japanese boro (115), and Bengali kantha (41) cultures. The museum’s collection began to grow in the 1970s when various HMong groups made their way to the Great Lakes region. Major efforts to increase the collection, including financial support from the Kohler Foundation, began in earnest in the 1980s.

“The exhibition showcases connections and conversation that come out of these traditions,” says Pachia Vang, herself a HMong textile artist and a curator of the display. “They have shared commonalities, which is why their art matters to people.”

Layered Textures

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Photo via John Michael Kohler Arts Center

'When Threads Meet, They Speak' - John Michael Kohler Arts Center

Niam Nao Lee Xiong, untitled (collar), 1940; cotton and silk; 5 3/8 x 9 in. John Michael Kohler Arts Center Collection.

Historically created by women in rural communities, the textiles showcase practices that have continuously been reconstructed—layering scraps like worn-down cotton, old saris, and fabric remnants into new lives that offers comfort and utility, while passing on the promises of wonder and delight to their human companions.

The items on display largely were created from previously used textiles and clothing that needed to be repaired, revitalized, and reused in some other way, the curator explains, both as a cost-savings measures and artistic statements. (Boro means “tattered rags” in Japanese.) Once salvaged, the fabric is generally dyed indigo to create a neutral palette from which the artists go to work. Bright threads and imaginative designs turn the textile castoffs into works of art that have become emblematic to each of the three cultures.

Coexisting within parallel traditions, the pieces share common threads: fibers, colors, and processes that converge to create patterns between varying tattered and pristine patchwork and lines. They illustrate moments of everyday life embedded in communal fiber arts that reflect systems of creativity, wholeness and care.

Clothing comprises many of the pieces on display in this exhibit, but the most dynamic work may be the 10-foot-high Bengali “story cloth” filled with men hunting, women admiring their efforts, and a fanciful animals endemic to the Bengali story culture, Vang says.

“It’s big and beautiful and something you can get lost in,” the curator adds.

“When Threads Meet, They Speak” opened June 27 and will run through January 24, 2027, at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 608 New York Avenue, Sheboygan. For more information visit jmkac.org.