Women’s Rights National Historical Park is proud to showcase the ‘Women of Rochester Dress’. It will be on display through November 25 in Seneca Falls.
The project started as a way to present Smart Textiles, but this dress grew into a way to showcase the many contributions of remarkable women with connections to Rochester. The body of the dress fabric incorporates the names of over 100 women including the creators. The panels highlight a number of women from a broad diversity of fields with national or international impact.
The dress features women from Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to Antoinette Blackwell and Harriet Tubman. It also highlights the contributions of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) mothers, who influenced and provided a model for women’s rights activists.
This project was funded in part by grants from the RIT Provost, an NSF Advance Grant (1209155), the RIT Cary Endowment; donations from Rosco GAMfloor and DUpont; as well as support from the faculty, staff, and students at Rochester Institute of Technology and Brockport College.
Created by professors Marla Schweppe (concept, research, 3D models, Design/RIT), Shu Chang (research, 3D printing and electronic implementation, Media Sciences/RIT), Christine Heusner (research, fabric printing, Media Sciences/RIT), Gail Battaglia (dress design and construction, SUNY Brockport), Nuchjarin “Woon” Pareeratanasomporn (design and fabric printing, Media Sciences/RIT), Amanda Carroll (button designs, Media Sciences/RIT), Matthew Sisson (electronics, Mechanical Engineering/RIT), Bradley Dunn (3D design, Industrial Design/RIT), Dakota Bolt (3D printing, Biomedical Engineering/RIT), Pawan Padmakar Khake (Screen Printing, Media Sciences/RIT), Sanyukta Sanjay (materials procurement, Media Sciences/RIT), Kate Gibbons (stitching, SUNY Brockport), and Morgan Perrin (stitching, SUNY Brockport).
All programs are free and open to the public.
