New York Feminist Art Institute.

Feminist art school in New York City.

From the description of Records, 1970-1990 (bulk 1979-1990). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122570763

The New York Feminist Art Institute (NYFAI) was founded in New York City in 1979. It was established by a group of women artists, educators, and administrators: Nancy Azara, Lucille Lessane, Miriam Schapiro, Carol Stronghilos, Irene Peslikis, and Selena Whitefeather. NYFAI had its roots in the women's movement of the early 1970s. Believing in the need for an alternative institution to balance the inequities of male-dominated art schools and colleges, the founders of NYFAI sought to bring women of diverse experiences and backgrounds together to form a supportive community in which to create arts. They asked the fundamental question: How does the social and psychological context of our identity as women inform our art? that would become the ethos of the school.

The founders of NYFAI became its first Board of Directors. They chose prominent women from the arts, education, and the professions to constitute a Board of Advisors. NYFAI opened in the Port Authority Building at 325 Spring Street in June 1979, with grants from the Joint Foundation, and eventually the America the Beautiful Fund, R.C.A., The Eastman Fund, and the American Stock Exchange, as well as the proceeds from a very successful benefit with the artist Louise Nevelson as a guest of honor. Fundraising would remain a constant problem, however, throughout the lifetime of the school.

The founders of NYFAI wanted the school to have a non-hierarchical structure. There were no grades; instead both teachers and students wrote evaluations of the student’s progress. Continuing in the program depended on the motivation of the student. The curriculum of the school was also non-traditional: in the first year, within the context of group sessions, students concentrated on developing a better understanding of themselves and their position as women before embarking on the study of artistic technique. In her consciousness-raising classes, sculptor Nancy Azara pioneered the concept of visual diaries. These were journals kept by students recording their experiences through drawing, painting, sculpture, and sometimes text, which helped them translate their personal experiences into art. In addition to basic drawing, painting, and sculpture classes, NYFAI offered courses in feminist theory, and the history of art and anthropology from a feminist perspective. NYFAI also held evening and weekend workshops that aimed to attract part-time students, and introduced an apprenticeship program that enabled students to work on projects with established women artists. In 1981, NYFAI presented a major exhibition, “Transformations,” at the New York Coliseum.

In the early 1980s, adopting the additional title Women’s Center for Learning, NYFAI broadened its focus to include other arts such as print and papermaking, basketry, and puppetry, as well as courses in psychology and writing, all with an emphasis on the personal. Recognizing the need to help women translate feelings of powerlessness into action, however, NYFAI held its first political weekend in April 1981.

In 1984, NYFAI moved its headquarters to Franklin Street in New York’s TriBeCa section. The non-profit Ceres Gallery on the first floor of the new building exhibited exclusively works by women artists, including yearly shows of artists associated with NYFAI. The expanded space also enabled the organization to offer low-cost studio and storage space to women artists. NYFAI continued its fundraising efforts by holding annual benefits at which donated works of art were auctioned, as well as twice-yearly open houses that honored women artists and women who contributed to the arts.

After the move to TriBeCa, the school began to place more emphasis on workshops and community involvement, as well as a slide collection and archive of women artists. In 1989, NYFAI sponsored a three-part series of programs to celebrate its tenth anniversary. “Beyond Survival: Old Frontiers, New Visions,” tackled the issues of race and gender through an exhibition of the work of minority women artists, a symposium of artists and art critics, and the publication of what was hoped to be the first volume of a journal, entitled Positions, which featured essays by feminist historians, illustrations, and interviews with artists from the exhibition.

In 1990, NYFAI sponsored another exhibition, “Memory/Reality,” but shortage of funding permitted only a drastically reduced selection of courses to be offered. NYFAI concluded operations in 1992-1993, at which time its archives and library were donated to Rutgers University Libraries. In 1992, the Ceres Gallery moved to Soho, eventually moving to 547 West 27th Street, where it continues to operate as a non-profit gallery with the mission of promoting contemporary women in the arts.

From the guide to the Inventory to the Records of the New York Feminist Art Institute, 1976-1990, (Miriam Schapiro Archives on Women Artists. Margery Somers Foster Center, Rutgers University. Special Collections and University Archives.)