Erin DowdingGraduate Studentshe/her/hers

I am a PhD student in design history with a focus on 20th century textiles, craft, and the material world with a focus on networks of exchange, creativity, and industry. Prior to attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison, I obtained an MA in the history of design and curatorial studies from Parsons School of Design in conjunction with the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum where I contributed research for the exhibition and monograph A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes and writing for the online digital exhibition.

Selected Publications

“SS Independence & SS Constitution,” “SS Santa Rosa & SS Santa Paula” for the Liebes Look, “Dorr Bothwell,” “Geraldine Funk,” “Ralph Higbee,” “Anna Kang,” “Glen Kaufman,” “Balbir Kaur,” “Nancy Kenealy,” and “Kamma Zethraus” for Studio Weavers, and “Chrysler Plymouth Fury” for Better & Better for Less & Less. Essays for the digital exhibition accompanying A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. https://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/dorothy-liebes/

Oral history interview with Michelle Millar Fisher [The Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts within the Contemporary Art Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston], April 2, 2023, in Bard Graduate Center Craft, Art and Design Oral History Project, ed. Catherine Whalen (New York: Bard Graduate Center, 2013–). https://bgccraftartdesign.org/items/show/79

Awards and Recognition

• Chipstone Course Engagement Project Assistant, 2025–2026
• Thorpe Fellow, Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, 2025
• Jane Graff Textile Research Assistant, 2024–2025
• Curatorial Capstone Fellow, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2022–2024
• Research Fellow, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2021–2022
• Summer Fellow, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2023
• Art Legacy Research Fellow, The Tremaine Foundation, 2022
• Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching, 2015–2016