The article reports on a new exhibition at the Kickernick Gallery in Minneapolis celebrating the 50th anniversary of WARM (Women's Art Registry of Minnesota), a pioneering women's art collective founded in 1976. The show features works by founding members including Harriet Bart, whose textile piece "Concrete Poem" (1985) is made from discarded garment labels she collected from her studio floor. The exhibition is curated by Christy Frank and runs until mid-June, highlighting the collective's history of mentorship, activism, and advocacy for gender equity in the arts.
This exhibition matters because WARM was once the largest women's art collective in the country, addressing severe gender disparities in museum representation—at its founding, only one or two solo shows by women artists were held annually at major institutions like the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center. The show not only honors the collective's legacy but also underscores ongoing conversations about visibility, equity, and the role of feminist organizing in shaping the art world, particularly in the Twin Cities' vibrant cultural scene of the 1970s-1990s.