‘Dyed Well: The Feminist Rug Hooking Practice of Emily Robertson’ at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum

Expand

Photo via Gallery Night MKE - Instagram

Emily Robertson

Emily Robertson

Emily ‘Emmy’ Robertson’s exhibition, “Dyed Well” at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum through October 13 might seem initially to be tapping into something deep in the contemporary groundwater of the Milwaukee art community—fabric and feminism have become a thread here in recent years. That is until one recognizes that Robertson’s career timeline and trajectory place her as more of a source of inspiration than a recent beneficiary of an active community. Either way, her work at the Museum speaks to a phenomenon that speaks to another phenomenon about how Milwaukee and the greater cultural world are getting along. 

When seeing a lot of work–and it is exceedingly easy now to see a lot of artwork–one can lose sight of larger patterns. And of course, many artists avoid looking for patterns altogether fearing the loss of the intimacy that naturally comes from being open to the small and unexpected. But dots of tiny experiences connect to make bigger pictures whether one makes the effort or not. And one of the pictures we see in Milwaukee looks like a body of practitioners who revel in material, namely fiber and textiles, work through them, and reapply their efforts to connect with greater social issues. As far as my armchair sociology can see, it all seems to be in keeping with the rich tradition of process, social activism, and craft-as-fine art in our region. Robertson’s rug-hooking practice tells us a great deal about the Milwaukee thing as a whole, while still gripping us with the sum of its parts.

Robertson, who was born in 1942, created all the textiles in this packed exhibition loop-by-loop over the course of decades with masterful detail and focus. Those repetitive actions build almost miraculously to works bearing messages that are as broad and social as the process is precise and private. The feminist messages in “Dyed” are abundantly clear and are read even before being seen at Villa. The works’ texts are playfully confrontational and provocative. For instance, Eve, a medium-sized work in one of the reliquary-like rooms off a main gallery features the Biblical Eve under a bubble of text reading: “If I had known the trouble this apple was going to cause, I’d have offered him a banana.” Funny, but funny-ouch rather than ha-ha. An adjacent work in the small room also references Christianity with a classical figure of the Virgin kneeling submissively under the words: “A WOMAN CAUGHT IN A MAN’S IDEA”–another scratchy message served up with humor on a fuzzy, hand-dyed woolen platter. 

When the work isn’t explicitly feminist it is almost always political. The Women’s March features the eponymous scene in front of the Capitol with signs reading “We Are All One,” and “Wake Up!” Another slightly more formally divergent piece, Homage to Pat Nixon’s Cloth Coat, sends up the idea of the “Cloth Coat Republican” who cynically concealed their privilege through humbled dress. Robertson subverts the concept by embroidering a red coat with the text “FOR ALL means ALL,” and “WITH LIBERTY JUSTICE EQUALITY FOR ALL.” There’s no mistaking Robertson’s critical point-of-view, and there’s no avoiding sinking into the world she’s created. Still, many works are more personal and psychological, such as The Grass May be Greener, which is traced with aphoristic text reflecting on her life. But the personal here is surely political, and even a sweet, naïve-looking image of the artist as a youngster next to a tree in Emmy gives in off intense Riot grrrl vibes.  

What’s so fascinating about the messaging and imagery in the exhibition is that it hits so hard that one naturally overlooks the painstakingly methodical process that brings it all to life. But it’s all there, invisibly making the other content possible. Insert any number of analogies here from gestation to bee hives, but to me the asymmetry between content and process speaks to how communities are shaped thought-by-thought, connection-by-connection, to build patterns broader and more powerful than any single element. Even as we focus on the personal, the local, and the familiar, we as social animals fashion forms larger and more expansive than we can see in the moment. It's worth noting that “Dyed Well” comes to the Villa in its centennial year and aims “to reflect its history of decorative and handmade work as well as that of the community it inhabits.” The exhibition pays tribute to great women who helped make the Museum into what it is today, such as Agnes Smith and Rose Standish Nichols, among others. History does a lot of heavy lifting that the moment often forgets. It’s reassuring to know that all the hooking, threading, looping, and making at the local level conspires mark-by-mark to create a composition that will inevitably be finished by an invisible communal hand, confirming our collective determination.

Event Listings: May 5–May 11, 2024

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Charles Allis Art Museum

• Milwaukee Museum Member Swap Day
• Sunday, May 4, 2024, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Member Swap Weekend
• Sunday, May 5, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tours: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Sunday, May 5, 2–3 p.m.

Charles Allis Art Museum

• Milwaukee Museum Member Swap Day
• Monday, May 5, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Charles Allis Art Museum

• Women’s Entrepreneurship Week (Events every day)
• May 5–May 11, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.

Union Studio Arts and Craft Centre at UWM

• Collage Social Night
• Tuesday, May 6, 6–8 p.m.

Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum

• Work from Home Wednesday: coworking session at the Villa
• Wednesday, May 8, 12–3 p.m.

Grohmann Museum

• Opening reception: “Crossing the DMZ: A Contemporary Look at Working Women”
• Thursday, May 9, 5-8 p.m.

David Barnett Gallery

• “Night at the Gallery”
• Thursday, May 9, 5–7 p.m.

MARN ART+CULTURE HUB

• Milwaukee Fashion Network
• Thursday, May 9, 6–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Play Date with Art: Stamp and Repeat
• Friday, May 10, 10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Lynden Sculpture Garden

• “Bonsai Exhibit at Lynden”
• Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Story Time in the Galleries
• Saturday, May 11, 10:30–11 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Slow Art Saturday: “Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron”
• Saturday, May 11, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Member Tours: Hidden Treasures
• Saturday, May 11, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tours: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• May 11, 2–3:00 pm

Mitchell Street Arts (MiSA)

• Community Sidewalk Sarape Mural Making with Adam Correa
• Join current gallery organizer Adam Correa to make a sidewalk sarape mural in front on Mitchell Street Arts
• Saturday, May 11, 2–5:00 pm

OS Projects

• Opening Reception: Sarah Leuchtner, “Processing Skies Past”
• Saturday, May 11, 1:00–3:00 pm

VAR Gallery and Studios

• Spring Open Studios
• Saturday, May 11, 5:00 pm–9:00 pm

Charles Allis Art Museum

• Hip and Sip: painting, drinks and music
• Saturday, May 11, 6– 9:00 pm

Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel

• AIR Time, Art & Studio Tour with AIR Anwar Floyd-Pruitt
• Saturday, May 11, 6:30 pm