Women | Page 21 | MNopedia

WARM: A Women’s Collective Art Space

In 1976, the doors opened to a new art gallery—the first in Minnesota dedicated exclusively to women artists. During its fifteen years of operation, WARM: A Women’s Collective Art Space (often referred to as the WARM Gallery) was at the center of women’s visual arts programming in the Twin Cities. Informed by second-wave feminism and in step with the national Women’s Art Movement, the WARM Gallery built a new arts community focused on promoting equality. It gave women artists the professional experiences necessary to compete in the art world and provided public access to women’s art, history, and theory.

Tying wild rice stalks

An Ojibwe woman ties together stalks of wild rice with basswood fiber to prepare them for harvest. Photograph by Frances Densmore, ca. 1930s. From Reserve Album 96, page 27.

Women parching wild rice at Nett Lake

Ojibwe women parching wild rice at Nett Lake Indian Reservation, ca. 1947. Photograph by Monroe P. Killy.

Parching wild rice at Nett Lake

Bebaa migizi go gaa (Mrs. Peter Fields) uses a traditional Ojibwe method to parch wild rice at Nett Lake. Photograph by Monroe P. Killy, September 1, 1946.

Ona Kingbird with a baby

Ojibwe elder and Heart of the Earth Survival School teacher Ona Kingbird with a baby, ca. 1980s. Used with the permission of Jon Lurie.

Hough, Sue Metzger Dickey (ca. 1882–1980)

One of the first four women elected to the Minnesota legislature in 1922, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough campaigned for gun control, strict capital punishment, and mandatory automobile insurance, among other issues. After four unsuccessful bids for re-election, Hough turned her attention to club work and other causes, including animal welfare and civic engagement.

Sue M. Dickey Hough

Sue M. Dickey Hough avoiding the camera after appearing in traffic court over a speeding ticket in 1943. She paid a twenty-dollar fine and had to forfeit one gas A-ration coupon. Photo by Star and Tribune Company, published on November 16, 1943. Minneapolis Newspaper Photograph Collection, Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis.