Women's Art Resources of Minnesota

Last updated

Women's Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM) is a women's art organization based in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded in 1976 as Women's Art Registry of Minnesota, a feminist artist collective. The organization ran the influential WARM Gallery in downtown Minneapolis from 1976 to 1991.

Contents

History

Early years

WARM has its origins in the feminist art movement of the early 1970s. Gatherings in the studios and homes of women artists in the Twin Cities led to the beginning of the Women's Art Registry of Minnesota in the winter of 1973 with the establishment of a slide registry of women artists from Minnesota by Lynn Lockie Warkov and Susan Fiene. [1] The group organized their own exhibitions and gathered statistics on the representation of women in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center. [2] That year artist Judy Chicago spoke at the University of Minnesota and the College of St. Catherine about her Feminist Art Program at the California Institute of the Arts. The next year Chicago, Miriam Shapiro, and educators from the College of St. Catherine laid the foundations for WARM. [3] At the Mid-west Women's Artists' Conference in Michigan in 1975, attendees from Minneapolis learned about the practicalities of maintaining a cooperatively run gallery. [4]

The Women's Art Registry of Minnesota was founded as a cooperative by 37 women artists in 1976. It was the first feminist art cooperative in Minnesota. [5] The group was non-hierarchical, with all members serving on the organization's governing body. [6] They registered as a non-profit on January 28, 1976. They limited the membership to 40 people, who were required to pay dues, attend monthly meetings, and spend at least 300 hours annually on activities related to the organization and gallery. [7]

In 1976 the WARM collective established WARM: A Women's Collective Artspace (also known as the WARM Gallery) in a former millinery store in Minneapolis' Warehouse District in the Wyman Building at 414 First Avenue North. [8] In 1972 New York City's A.I.R. Gallery had become the first women's cooperative gallery in the United States. WARM Gallery was one of number of cooperative artist galleries established by women using A.I.R. as a model. The WARM Gallery hosted solo and group exhibitions by invited women artists and from its membership. Visiting artists at the gallery included the painters Grace Hartigan, Alice Neel, Joan Semmel and Joan Snyder. [9]

WARM began offering the Feminist Perspectives monthly lecture series in 1980. The program was directed by Joyce Lyon and succeeded in bringing art critics and historians such as Linda Nochlin, Robin Morgan, Lucy Lippard, and Germaine Greer through the group's visiting artists program. The series continued until 1984. [10] [6] [11]

In 1980 the WARM newsletter expanded to the quarterly WARM Journal. Designed by Patricia Olson, the periodical featured fiction and poetry from Minnesota women in addition to articles on art. The journal's editorial committee was chaired by Susan McDonald, Alice Towle, Marty Nash and Elizabeth Erickson until 1985 when Phyllis Wiener took over. By 1985 the journal's circulation had risen to nearly 5000. [12] Informed by cultural feminism, WARM Journal was one of the few interdisciplinary publications in the area and for a time it was the only art magazine published regularly in the Twin Cities. [13] The WARM Journal ceased publication in 1987. [14]

Catherine Jordan was hired as the gallery's coordinator in 1981. She became executive director of WARM the following year. [6] The collective established the WARM Mentor Program in 1982. Emerging artists are paired with professionals for the two-year program. A more intensive program, the WARM Mentor Intensive Program, lasts one to three months. [15]

In October 1986, WARM hosted a national conference at the Minneapolis Plaza Hotel called "The Contemporary Women in the Visual Arts". The conference featured speakers such as Wilhelmina Holladay, artist June Wayne, and Janet Wolff. WARM Gallery and other galleries in the Twin Cities featured women artists during the conference. WARM also sponsored a traveling exhibition featuring artist Harmony Hammond. [16]

Following the conference, WARM found itself in significant debt. [17] Shortly after the opening of the nearby Target Center sports complex in October 1990, parking and traffic problems worsened and the gallery experienced a decline in visitors. Unable to keep up with rising rents, the board made a decision to close WARM Gallery in January 1991. They retained the non-profit and the Mentor Program, moving to an office on University Avenue in St. Paul before relocating to the Women's Building on Rice Street. [18]

Post-gallery era

The Women's Art Registry of Minnesota continues to hold exhibitions for its members. In addition to its educational and professional programs, WARM maintains an online art registry of local and regional artists and publishes an e-newsletter. [15] WARM changed its name to Women's Art Resources of Minnesota in 2010. [19]

Legacy

The WARM Gallery provided an important exhibition space outside of mainstream venues for Minnesota women artists. It was a catalyst for economic renewal in the Warehouse District and played an important role in the development of arts in Minneapolis. WARM served as a key Midwestern node in the early feminist art movement in the United States. [20]

The University of Minnesota's Weisman Art Museum held an exhibition of work from 12 of WARM's long-term members in 2006. The exhibition was documented in Joanna Inglot's 2007 book WARM: A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota. The book includes a history of WARM and entries for each of the 12 artists featured in the exhibition. [21] On WARM's 40-year anniversary in 2013, exhibitions were held at both the University of Minnesota's Katherine E. Nash Gallery and Robbin Gallery. [19]

The Minnesota Historical Society holds records and media related to WARM in its collections. [22]

Selected members

Notes

  1. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 13.
  2. ↑ Brown, Meredith A. (8 January 2012). ""The Enemies of Women's Liberation in the Arts Will be Crushed": A.I.R. Gallery's Role in the American Feminist Art Movement". Archives of American Art.
  3. ↑ Klein, Jennie (2012). "Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 33 (2): 132. doi:10.5250/fronjwomestud.33.2.0129. JSTOR   10.5250/fronjwomestud.33.2.0129. S2CID   142509762.
  4. ↑ Moravec, Michelle (2012). "Toward a History of Feminism, Art, and Social Movements in the United States". Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies. 33 (2): 30. doi:10.5250/fronjwomestud.33.2.0022. JSTOR   10.5250/fronjwomestud.33.2.0022. S2CID   141537252.
  5. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 3.
  6. 1 2 3 Umolu, Yesomi (July 17, 2012). "WARM in the '80s Then & Now: Catherine Jordan on Art, AIDS, and Feminism in the Twin Cities". Walker Art Center.
  7. ↑ Inglot 2007, pp. 27–28.
  8. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Inglot 2007, pp. 38–39.
  10. ↑ Inglot 2007, pp. 51–52.
  11. ↑ Lyon, Joyce; Erickson, Elizabeth (2013). "'The House We Built: Feminist Art Then and Now'". Minnesota Women's Press.
  12. ↑ Inglot 2007, pp. 58–59.
  13. ↑ Chiarmonte, Paula L. (October 1982). "Women Artists: A Resource and Research Guide". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 1 (5): A1–A20. doi:10.1086/adx.1.5.27947012. JSTOR   27947012. S2CID   194484497.
  14. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 58.
  15. 1 2 Olsen, Alis. "About WARM: History of WARM". Women's Art Resources of Minnesota. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Crowe, Edith L., ed. (Spring 1987). "WOMEN AND ART DOCUMENTATION GROUP: The Women's Art Registry of Minnesota". Art Documentation: Journal of the Art Libraries Society of North America. 6 (1): 36. doi:10.1086/adx.6.1.27947720. JSTOR   27947720. S2CID   76159555.
  17. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 67.
  18. ↑ Inglot 2007, pp. 74–75.
  19. 1 2 Abbe, Mary (January 17, 2013). "Women's work, and proud of it". Star Tribune.
  20. ↑ Inglot 2007, p. 2.
  21. ↑ Gardner-Huggett, Joanna (2008). "Review: WARM: A Feminist Art Collective in Minnesota by Joanna Inglot". Woman's Art Journal. 29 (1): 64–66. JSTOR   20358154.
  22. ↑ Holbert, Sue E. (Fall 1990). "MHS Collections: Women's History Resources at the Minnesota Historical Society". Minnesota History. 52 (3): 116. JSTOR   20179218.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hannah Wilke</span> American artist (1940–1993)

Hannah Wilke (born Arlene Hannah Butter; was an American painter, sculptor, photographer, video artist and performance artist. Her work is known for exploring issues of feminism, sexuality and femininity.

The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and art historian Arlene Raven. The center was open from 1973 until 1991. During its existence, the Los Angeles Times called the Woman's Building a "feminist mecca."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A.I.R. Gallery</span>

A.I.R. Gallery is the first all female artists cooperative gallery in the United States. It was founded in 1972 with the objective of providing a professional and permanent exhibition space for women artists during a time in which the works shown at commercial galleries in New York City were almost exclusively by male artists. A.I.R. is a not-for-profit, self-underwritten arts organization, with a board of directors made up of its New York based artists. The gallery was originally located in SoHo at 97 Wooster Street, and was located on 111 Front Street in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn until 2015. In May 2015, A.I.R. Gallery moved to its current location at 155 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Olson</span> American graphic designer, painter, feminist artist, and educator

Patricia Olson is an American graphic designer, painter, feminist artist, and educator whose works are categorized as figurative art. Olson was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her B.A. in studio art from Macalester College in 1973, and her M.F.A. in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1998. Olson's work has been on exhibition continuously throughout the United States since 1973, sometimes in group exhibitions, and sometimes in solo exhibitions. She has works that are part of permanent collections throughout the United States as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist art movement in the United States</span> Promoting the study, creation, understanding, and promotion of womens art, began in 1970s

The feminist art movement in the United States began in the early 1970s and sought to promote the study, creation, understanding and promotion of women's art. First-generation feminist artists include Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Suzanne Lacy, Judith Bernstein, Sheila de Bretteville, Mary Beth Edelson, Carolee Schneeman, Rachel Rosenthal, and many other women. They were part of the Feminist art movement in the United States in the early 1970s to develop feminist writing and art. The movement spread quickly through museum protests in both New York and Los Angeles, via an early network called W.E.B. that disseminated news of feminist art activities from 1971 to 1973 in a nationally circulated newsletter, and at conferences such as the West Coast Women's Artists Conference held at California Institute of the Arts and the Conference of Women in the Visual Arts, at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C..

Hollis Sigler was an American artist. She received several Arts Lifetime Achievement awards as both an artist and an educator, including the Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement from the College Art Association in 2001.

Harmony Hammond is an American artist, activist, curator, and writer. She was a prominent figure in the founding of the feminist art movement in 1970s New York.

Vera Klement was an American artist, and Professor Emerita at the University of Chicago. She was a 1981 Guggenheim Fellow.

The National Association of Women Artists, Inc. (NAWA) is a United States organization, founded in 1889 to gain recognition for professional women fine artists in an era when that field was strongly male-oriented. It sponsors exhibitions, awards and prizes, and organizes lectures and special events.

Irene Peslikis was an American feminist artist, activist, and educator. She was one of the early founders and organizers in the women's art movement, especially on the east coast.

West-East Bag (WEB) was an international women artists network active from 1971 to 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazel Belvo</span> American painter

Hazel Belvo is an American painter, educator and women's art advocate.

This is a timeline of the feminist art movement in New Zealand. It lists important figures, collectives, publications, exhibitions and moments that have contributed to discussion and development of the movement. For the indigenous Māori population, the emergence of the feminist art movement broadly coincided with the emergence of Māori Renaissance.

Elizabeth Erickson (1942–2024) is an American painter, feminist artist, poet, and educator. Her style of painting tends to gestural abstraction and the themes she explores occupy "the territories of ancient myth, religion, and spiritual feminism," according to art historian Joanna Inglot.

Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) was a New York City-based collective of American women artists and activists that formed in 1969. They seceded from the male-dominated Art Workers' Coalition (AWC), prompted by the Whitney Museum of American Art's 1969 Annual (later the Whitney Biennial), which included only eight women out of the 143 featured artists shown.

Jantje Visscher is an American mixed-media artist and teacher. Her work involves painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture. Visscher uses geometry and mathematics to explore the dynamics of perception and optical effects through the use of nontraditional mixed media. She lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is active in the Women's Art Resources of Minnesota Mentor Program and the Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art. Visscher is best known for hard-edge abstraction and minimalism within her scientific approach and exploration of perception and mathematics.

Artemisia Gallery was an alternative exhibition space in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that operated from 1973 until its closure in 2003.

Bread and Roses was a socialist women's liberation collective active in Boston in the 1960s and 1970s. The group is named after the slogan of the 1912 Lawrence textile strike, with Bread signifying decent wages and Roses meaning shorter hours and more leisure time. The overarching theme of the original Bread and Roses movement pertained to gaining economic stability and dignity for women across the workforce.

Judith Roode (1943–2018) was an American artist and teacher. From 1977 to 1992 Roode taught drawing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. As an artist she was known for her expressive drawings, which have been exhibited widely, published in drawing guides, and included in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Walker Art Center and Weisman Art Museum, among other institutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Shaddle</span> American sculptor and art teacher

Alice Shaddle Baum was an American sculptor, collage artist, and founding member of the Artemisia Gallery in Chicago.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.