Ava Schueller is a 2025 undergraduate earning her Bachelor of Science in Textile and Fashion Design and a certificate in Art History. After graduation, she will be working as a Gallery Assistant in downtown Milwaukee, where she will write on and promote local artists. She has a passion for material culture and her writings for Wisconsin 101 bridge her interests of textile design and object study, having the opportunity to write on an artifact located in the textile collection here in Madison, Wisconsin.
By This Author:
OBJECT HISTORY: Milwaukee Handicraft Project Portfolio
As the mission of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project was to hire unskilled women in need of financial support, they sought to teach women how to make use of readily available, otherwise overlooked or discarded materials. This portfolio was a product of the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, a program started by the Works Project Administration where women handcrafted goods as a way to support their families during the Great Depression, and represents the hands that crafted these products.
Elsa Ulbricht: A Pioneer for Women’s Work
Due to its longevity and the number of women employed, historians consider the Milwaukee Handicraft Project to be one of the most successful programs sponsored by the Works Project Administration. The Project’s success, however, should be credited to Elsa Ulbricht, a local visual art instructor who transformed the program to focus on the production of utilitarian goods that would support public institutions as well as teach their workers new, employable skills.