One recent afternoon at Hoagland Annex, Adele Zhang, wearing gloves, was meticulously measuring a garment newly donated to the Department of Design’s Jo Ann C. Stabb Design Collection. As the collection’s curator, Zhang keeps records of every item that comes in, adds it to the database and is always sure to ask what the story is behind each item.
Zhang, a senior continuing lecturer in the Department of Design, has been the Design Collection’s curator and manager since 2006. After spending the last year researching the collection's archive, Zhang spent the first weeks of 2025 packing up and shipping 134 objects to London, where they will be on display at the Fashion and Textile Museum from March 28 through September 7.
“I always like to take every opportunity to promote the collection,” said Zhang, who will be in London later this month to help setup the exhibition.
The exhibit, Textiles: The Art of Mankind, a version of which was previously on display at UC Davis, was curated by Zhang and Mary Schoeser, a design alumna and author of a book of the same name. The curators had hoped to expand the exhibit and take it to London sooner, but the pandemic put those plans on hold until recently.
“I just needed to make this happen,” Zhang said. “I just want to showcase the design collection to a bigger audience internationally, so that's why I was so determined.”
A curator grows alongside her collection
The Design Collection was started in the 1960s with just a few pieces, which were used as teaching samples in home economics courses. Throughout the 1980s, spearheaded by Jo Ann Stabb, a founding member of the UC Davis Department of Design, the collection expanded to more than 5,000 textile and costume objects from cultures all over the world.
Zhang’s personal journey at UC Davis began when she was a graduate student entering the design program in 1997.
“I still remember when my baby was just born, Jo Ann sent me a package of baby shoes and baby clothing. I was an international student and I didn't have family members here. Can you imagine? That was very touching.” — Zhang
The collection was renamed in honor of Stabb, who was on faculty from 1968 - 2002 and passed in 2022.
After graduating two years later, Zhang wanted to stay in Davis and quickly became a lecturer. When Zhang was asked to take on the role of museum curator and manager, at first, she wasn’t sure if she was ready for all the responsibility.
“I was nervous if I could handle this 5,000-object collection,” Zhang recalled. Overseeing the large collection was a new challenge for Zhang, but she was up for it. With support from Stabb and Professor Emerita Victoria Rivers, previous design chairs, as well as campus colleagues, Zhang grew into the position.
Pieces from the collection have been on display at the Design Museum at UC Davis and a few have been loaned out to be exhibited at outside museums, including the San Francisco International Airport Museum and the Oakland Museum of California.
“Now I have total confidence that I can handle not only managing the 5,000 objects while teaching on a regular basis, but also growing the collection and presenting this international exhibition,” Zhang said. “I am so lucky I came here and met these wonderful people, and I had this opportunity to learn and develop.”
Community support and impact
Not only has Zhang worked tirelessly to maintain and promote the Design Collection, this past year she held a successful fundraising campaign to help get the museum objects safely to London. She wanted to raise enough money to wrap each object in museum-grade packing materials and securely ship them.
“That is very expensive — there's no budget to cover that, so that's why I think this Crowdfund is a great tool on campus,” Zhang said.
Zhang, along with help from UC Davis business offices and in partnership with the Letters and Science Development and Alumni Relations team, started a crowdfunding campaign last year.
“We contacted the donors, then we promoted our exhibition and showed them the vision of why we are doing this,” Zhang said. “The support was tremendous, exceeding our goal.”
During this same time, Zhang published her book, Encountering the Global Textile Motifs.
Zhang’s mark on the UC Davis campus community goes beyond her work with students and even the Design Collection’s international debut. She is the co-founder of the UC Davis Red Dress Collection, a campaign partnership between the UC Davis Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program and the Department of Design. Each year, she and her fashion design students create a collection of red dresses to raise awareness about heart disease as the leading cause of death among women.
Zhang designed a red dress for LeShelle May, the wife of UC Davis Chancellor Gary May, which she wore at last year’s Picnic Day Fashion Show as well as the Women’s Cardiovascular Medicine Program’s 30th anniversary gala.
“She was very supportive for the Red Dress Project and she modeled that dress I created for her to raise awareness,” Zhang said.
That dress, along with some student and alumni work, will also be on display at the London exhibit.
“I'm so lucky to have this privilege to serve on this campus and work with these beautiful objects,” Zhang said. “I always say, I was made in China, then imported to UC Davis and then acquired by the Design Collection. I fell in love with Davis and I never left.”
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