Women’s Studio Workshop

Women’s Studio Workshop’s (WSW) mission is to operate and maintain an artists’ workspace that champions the work of historically marginalized and under-represented people and artistic practices: women and trans, intersex, nonbinary and genderfluid artists at all stages of their careers working in etching, letterpress, paper-making, book arts, silkscreen, 3D work, ceramics, and photography.  Founded as a women’s artistic community in 1974, WSW continues to be an important hub for radical thought, for modeling economic viability, and for print and book culture.

Approaching the eve of their 50th anniversary in 2024, Hauser & Wirth Institute’s grant of $180,000 – gifted in installments over a three year period – allowed WSW to hire a full-time Archivist and Special Collections Manager to help preserve and activate their collections, which comprise artist books, artist files, institutional records, a photograph collection, and a silkscreen poster collection.  The new archivist established best practices, and worked with artists, academic and artistic institutions, and the public to create education programs, publications, and exhibitions.

As part of the grant, WSW is collaborating with Hauser & Wirth Institute to host a convening on community art archives to take place in 2024, drawing on the WSW’s experiences in creating a permanent dynamic space for their own historical records and other strategies for self-archiving.

Please visit the WSW website for more information on the organization and their programming.