In the basement of Frederick J. Gaenslen School, every color (of dye) in the rainbow, artists of all ages, and a century of Midwestern art history come together in the Alice Bertschy Kadish Weaving Center.

The ABK Weaving Center is an artistic home for Gaenslen eighth graders and an inspiring gathering place for fiber artists statewide. The center might be one of the only places in Milwaukee where you’ll find an eighth grader threading a loom for the first time, creating alongside an artist whose work has been featured in galleries around the country.

Classes

ABK Weaving Center — a collaborative effort of Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Recreation, Wisconsin Handweavers Inc., and the Halbert & Alice Kadish Foundation — is open to the public and provides weaving and fiber-arts education to Gaenslen students and to the wider community.

Artist educators from Wisconsin Handweavers Inc. teach weaving to Gaenslen School’s eighth graders on Fridays during the school year.

Milwaukee Rec hosts weeknight adult classes in the center: weaving, wool-needle felting, knitting, zen stitching and jewelry making. An updated course list and complete registration details are available through Milwaukee Rec.

To request a tour of the ABK Weaving Center, please call the center director at (414) 267-5771.

Mission & History

Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Recreation, Wisconsin Handweavers Inc., and the Halbert & Alice Kadish Foundation joined creative forces in 2000 to establish a permanent studio at Gaenslen to make weaving and fiber arts education available to people of all ages.

To fulfill this mission, artist volunteers maintain a museum-worthy collection of art supplies, artwork in progress and art history in the center:

• Wisconsin Handweavers Fiber Arts Library;
• More than 120 looms from tabletop to tapestry models;
• Stovetop and sink for dyeing and basketry projects;
• Gallery space featuring art from the personal collection of Alice Bertschy Kadish;
• Gallery space showcasing the work of Gaenslen student artists.

Who was Alice Bertschy Kadish?

Teachers know how to make things happen. Alice Bertschy Kadish was no exception. A retired Milwaukee Public Schools kindergarten teacher who began weaving in the 1970s, Kadish’s other interests included travel, science education, and the natural world. Kadish first wove fiber arts into her life at Milwaukee Rec’s All-City Weaving Studio. Based at Wisconsin Avenue School, the All-City studio was among the last looms standing in Milwaukee, and the largest in the Midwest.

By the 1980s, the All-City Weaving Studio needed a new permanent home. Alice Bertschy and her husband helped secure funding to preserve Milwaukee’s vibrant fiber-arts history and share this art form with future generations.

Dedicated in 2000, the Alice Bertschy Kadish Weaving Center is supported by the Halbert & Alice Kadish Foundation. The family’s legacy continues through the namesake weaving center, a Milwaukee park, COA Youth and Family Center and other spaces that celebrate creativity, community and childhood in southeastern Wisconsin.

To learn more about the center’s history and the Halbert & Alice Kadish Foundation, please visit Wisconsin Handweaver’s Inc.