Jennifer AngusKay Vaughan Innovation Fellow; Professor

I teach in the Textile and Apparel Design Program in the area of surface design. I am also an affiliate of the Art Department. My research is driven by my interest in pattern. Without a written word, pattern upon cloth can communicate much about its wearer whether it be sex, age, ethnic identity or status within a community. There is a cultural understanding of pattern. That understanding provides a framework or potential for a narrative. I encourage students to think of pattern as powerful tool that goes far beyond enhancing a surface.

My work has been exhibited internationally including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Spain. I am fortunate to have been the recipient of numerous awards including Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and Wisconsin Arts Board grants. The Ontario Association of Art Galleries selected my exhibition “A Terrible Beauty” at the Textile Museum of Canada as “Exhibition of the Year” in 2006. In 2013, Albert Whitman and Company, Chicago, published my first novel, In Search of Goliathus Hercules.

Recent press

Twelve classic Halloween movies paired with boo-tiful artworks, Smithsonian American Art Museum, October 27, 2020
Mattress Factory delves into the fantastic and macabre with two new exhibitions, Pittsburgh City Paper, August 27, 2020
Moments of wonder—and thousands of insects, Isthmus, February 13, 2020
The Chazen Museum of Art at 50: Growing, changing and celebrating faculty, Wisconsin State Journal, January 26, 2020
First Forward Art Prizes awarded, Wisconsin State Journal, November 10, 2019
Making art with insects, Wisconsin State Journal, November 10, 2019