Updates From the Director
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During the Hidden Gems art opening, Winooski High School student talks about his painting with Mayor Lott.
Exciting things have been happening at the Mill Museum! Recently, board members met to revise our mission to better reflect the interests of our diverse community and stress our focus on connecting the past with issues that matter to the community today. Our new vision is to be a social anchor in the community, foster community well-being, and be purposeful in our inclusion and collaboration with the diverse local population.
This past school year, we hosted two art shows with Winooski High School art students. The exhibit in December 2018 featured student photography showcasing a “Slice of Life” in Winooski today. In May 2019, students from a foundations art class painted landscapes of their favorite “Hidden Gems” in Winooski. The project was a response to a 1913 vintage postcard in which the message stated Winooski is “not a very pretty place.” Both shows gave students the opportunity to connect and share their cultural perspectives with other community members.
During the spring semester, the museum collaborated with a group of students from the Emergent Media Center (EMC) at Champlain College to evaluate our gallery space and permanent exhibits. The EMC students made some proposals for new ways to incorporate interactive technology and make connections to current issues. After evaluating our Child Labor exhibit, one student created a mock-up of a searchable database where visitors would be able to check if their clothing was manufactured in a country where children are exploited and working in hazardous conditions. The database would be a powerful way for the museum to present more current and socially responsible content. We plan to continue evaluating our exhibits and look for meaningful ways to make connections to important current issues.
Currently, we are working on a new exhibit set to open in April, 2020. The show, titled Capacity of Cloth, takes a look at innovative textiles happening today by six artists working in the Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster at Concordia University in Montreal. The artwork to be displayed was developed alongside scientists and other technical practitioners to explore new ways of combining textiles and technology. The stimulating exhibit, juxtaposed with historic mill artifacts, will give viewers an understanding of how far innovative textiles have come and spark wonderment of what the future holds.
Your support matters!
We have started a fundraising campaign to help cover the costs of this exciting textiles and technology exhibit. We can only make this amazing opportunity happen with your support! Please help us reach our goal so that we can focus our attention on making Capacity of Cloth and associated outreach programs top-notch.
Contributions can be made at: