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For 22 years, the Women’s Art Institute (WAI) was a leader in contemporary women’s art education. The Institute was a rigorous four-week summer intensive studio course designed for advanced women artists, inclusive of age and diverse backgrounds. The Institute’s directors emphasized ´ºÓêÖ±²¥-centered feminist pedagogy that included individual mentoring, independent studio work, consciousness-raising conversations and critiques, and guest lectures by prominent artists, critics, and scholars. Founded in 1999 by Elizabeth Erickson at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, WAI moved to St. ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ University in 2012. Directed by Professor Patricia Olson, the Institute was hosted through 2021 by the Department of Art and Art History. In 2019, WAI celebrated its 20th anniversary with concurrent exhibitions at the ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ G. Murphy Gallery at St. ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ University and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Over 300 artists attended WAI, where they brought their questions about being artists and being in the art world. Most importantly, WAI cultivated a community of support through art-making, and it continues to inspire the methods and practices taught in the Department of Art and Art History.

Today, faculty and staff in Art and Art History, along with the Director of the ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ G. Murphy Gallery, are actively working to create a successor program that builds on the strengths of WAI to cultivate creative practices that respond to the needs of the times and catalyze institutional change and transformation in the arts. Supported in part by the Kathleen M. Daniels '73 Endowed Fund, St. ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ University faculty and staff continue to bring community members together with ´ºÓêÖ±²¥s to learn about and create art, and the successor program aims to honor WAI’s rich history to foster long-lasting ties between St. Kate's ´ºÓêÖ±²¥s and community artists.

The Women’s Art Institute helped me understand what subjects were relevant to me as an artist and how to express them through my work. Since completing the WAI, I have received a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant, a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step grant, and I became a recipient of the MCAD-Jerome Foundation Early Career Artist Fellowship.—&²Ô²ú²õ±è;Marjorie Fedyszyn

The Women’s Art Institute creates a space for women to see themselves reflected in the innovative artists of the past and the captivating artists of our present. I was immensely challenged and given space to grow and experiment in my medium, which enabled an artistic growth and freedom to create.—&²Ô²ú²õ±è; Julia Nellessen

The WAI became a life-changing experience through thoughtful instruction, reflective classroom sessions, engaging artists and art historians, and hours of studio work while taking risks without judgement [sic].  —&²Ô²ú²õ±è;Kathy Daniels

WAI was a huge catalyst in my art career. With guidance from the faculty, fellow ´ºÓêÖ±²¥s, and the many guest artists I met, I made so much progress in my artwork. And even more importantly, I grew to embrace my identity as an artist. — Vatina McLaurin