Summer 2016 installation of artist Elin Noble’s Vox Stellarum exhibition.
Photo Credit: Larry Gawel

The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery educates and increases awareness of the rich traditions of art, craft, design, and material culture expressed through the exhibition of all forms of textiles and apparel.

The gallery is dedicated to Dr. Robert Hillestad, an internationally renowned fiber artist and Professor Emeritus of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design.

Current Exhibition

Image: Courtesy of UNL Libraries Special Collections and Archives. Taken in fron of what is now Architecture Hall, ca. 1900. Color inset photo by TMFD student Alison Cloet.

What We Wore: Dressing Well at UNL

Monday, March 25, 2019 to Friday, May 10, 2019

On February 15, 1869 the University of Nebraska was officially chartered as a part of the Morrill Act. The Morrill Land-Grant Act provided 30,000 acres of federal lands to the newly admitted state of Nebraska (1867) to create a university that would provide a “liberal and practical education” to its citizens, including women. From Alice Frost, the first woman graduate, to Louise Pound and her support of athletics for women, to Grace Margaret Morton and her widely used textbook The Arts of Costume and Personal Appearance, women, both faculty and students, have played an important role in the history of the university.

Upcoming Exhibition

Shelley Thornton. Image credit: Barbra Porter.

Textile Art Dolls

Monday, June 3, 2019 to Friday, September 6, 2019

In 1992, Shelley Thornton, a lifelong artist, turned to the medium of textiles, creating one-of-a-kind cloth art dolls with embroidered, needle-sculpted faces, wooden ball joints, and her unique, signature-style stuffed cloth hair. Her 28” figures are meticulously costumed, juxtaposing unexpected combinations of alluring textiles into collages of patterns and colors. Thornton was elected into the prestigious National Institute of American Doll Artists in 1995, and is known internationally for her work.

Visit the Gallery

The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery is in Lincoln, Nebraska on the UNL East Campus. It is located on the second floor of the Home Economics building at 35th and Holdrege Streets.

HOURS: The Gallery is open to the public without charge Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and weekends by special request. Call (402) 472-2911, to request weekend opening. It is closed University holidays and between shows.

PARKING: Visitors to the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery are welcome to park on East Campus in areas marked "Visitor Parking." Parking passes for these areas can be obtained at the time of your visit in Room 105 or Room 234 of the Home Economics Building.