Faythe Levine: Time is Running Out
Time is running out, and we are determined to have the material properly preserved, believing it to have a definite value.
–Miriam Frink, Letter drafted to the Wisconsin Historical Society (1972)
In Time is Running Out, artist, curator, and researcher Faythe Levine illuminates the collective lives of Charlotte Partridge (1882-1975) and Miriam Frink (1892-1978), who shaped Milwaukee's cultural landscape in the twentieth century. For over fifty years, their intertwined devotion to each other and to Wisconsin—through their various roles and involvement as co-founders of the Layton School of Art, the Federal Art Project, and numerous civic clubs and organizations—had a profound impact on greater Milwaukee. Their groundbreaking contributions and extensive networks continue to resonate today.
Through an act of excavation and reimagination, Levine restores Partridge and Frink to a more prominent place in our narrative of Milwaukee’s past. Using archival materials, objects, and storytelling, Levine engages with lesser-known parts of their history. She explores their legacy through four themes: domesticity, creativity, partnership, and community, and four tropes: The Studio, The Sketchbook, The Metal Object, and The Protégé, each an entry point into an intimate, lifelong collaboration.
About the Artist
Faythe Levine has been in service to the arts for over twenty years, advocating for creative output to build connections between community, personal independence, and empowerment. She is currently the Hauser & Wirth Institute Archivist for Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY, where she manages, oversees, and increases public visibility of the archives and special collections. Her position focuses on WSW’s work as an important hub for radical thought for the past 50 years, modeling economic viability for print and book culture.
Levine has worked extensively as a freelance artist and curator in traditional and DIY spaces. From 2017 to 2021, she served as director of the Arts/Industry program at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, where she was responsible for developing and administering the residency hosted by Kohler Co., as well as curating related exhibitions and projects. She is also currently the facilitator for a three-year pilot for the Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award.
Her personal practice revolves around deep research, storytelling, and reimagining archives and collections through a queer feminist lens. Prior work includes Sign Painters (2013) and Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY Art, Craft, and Design (2009), feature-length documentaries that toured extensively. Each was accompanied by a book published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Her most recent book, As Ever, Miriam (2024), explores the fifty-year intertwined professional and personal lives of Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink. It will be available for purchase at Lynden during the exhibition.
