Upcoming Events

Join a lively and intimate panel discussion between Jessica Frantal, Sandy Maxx, and Dr. Margaret Schmitz on the costumes featured in the exhibition Dressing the Abbey currently on view at Charles Allis Art Museum. 

The panel guests will share thoughts on the implications of social class through clothing and costuming, provide light historical context of the Edwardian period in which Downton Abbey™ takes place, and chat casually about moments of interest in the exhibition and the television series.

This conversation is organized and moderated by CAVT Senior Curator Phoenix Brown. 

Panel discussion is free and open to the public.

Private viewing of the exhibition prior to the panel discussion available between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm. General admission applies to view the exhibition (tickets can be purchased at the door, not in advance)

Panelists:

Jessica Frantal (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Fashion Department at Mount Mary, teaching Fashion history, patternmaking and construction, and computer-aided design. A graduate of the Mount Mary University fashion program, Frantal has had a lifelong interest in sewing and apparel. She discovered a passion for costuming at a young age, encouraged by her fashion designer mother (also a Mount Mary grad). It was this interest that led her to pursue an apparel degree at Mount Mary. After graduating, she started Mad Scientist Designs, a custom costuming and sewing business, worked for several years as a Technical Designer at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, and completed an MFA in Design Studies from University of Wisconsin - Madison. 

Sandy Maxx (she/her/hers) is a Milwaukee media personality. She is TV host of “The Arts Page,” an Emmy Award winning Milwaukee PBS series and can be heard on the radio on 96.5 WKLH-FM playing classic rock weekday afternoons. Sandy Maxx has worked in broadcasting ever since graduating from Marquette University’s Broadcast and Electronic Communication program. Her enthusiasm and interest in all things Downton Abbey inspired her to create the “Downton Blabbey” podcast and she’s traveled to Highclere Castle twice so far.

Dr. Margaret Schmitz (she/her) is Full-time Interim Faculty of art history at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where she is responsible for developing art and design history courses centered on modernism and contemporary art. This includes classes on Native North American Art, design theory, and on her research expertise: transatlantic artistic exchange between British and American artists throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. An interest in cross-cultural exchange has introduced a specific set of convictions and intentions in Dr. Schmitz’s teaching and research, which seek to show students the power dynamics at play during a given period, and to be more aware of absent or marginalized voices.