The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) is honoring the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Studio Workshop (WSW) in Kingston, NY, with an exhibition titled "A Radical Alteration: Women’s Studio Workshop as a Sustainable Model for Art Making." Curated by Maymanah Farhat, the show runs through September and features over 40 objects—including artists’ books, zines, ephemera, and archival materials—dating from 1974 to 2024. The exhibition highlights WSW’s history as a feminist arts organization that supports women, trans, intersex, nonbinary, and genderfluid artists, with a focus on book arts and marginalized communities.
This exhibition matters because it celebrates a rare surviving feminist arts collective from the 1970s that has adapted its mission to be more inclusive of gender diversity while maintaining its core values. By showcasing WSW’s sustainable model and its impact on book arts, the show underscores the ongoing relevance of grassroots, artist-run spaces in addressing gender equity and supporting underrepresented voices in the art world. It also brings attention to the power of artists’ books as an accessible, innovative medium for personal and political expression.