Author and artist Faythe Levine presents MIAD Foremothers

Faythe Levine

Visiting author and artist Faythe Levine is motivated by reimagining archives and collections through a queer feminist lens. On Tuesday, November 11, 11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., she visits the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) to present “Queer Investigation & Storytelling in the Archive: MIAD Foremothers Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink,” based on her many-year research process for her fourth book, “As Ever, Miriam” (2024).

The book centers on the 50-year personal and professional relationship between Charlotte Russell Partridge and Miriam Frink, founders of the Layton School of Art, MIAD’s predecessor college.

An exhibit of Levine’s work, “Time is Running Out,” runs Nov. 15, 2025 – March 14, 2026, at Lynden Sculpture Garden in River Hills, WI. Joining Levine for her opening talk there on Nov. 15, 3 p.m., is Seth Ter Haar ’23 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice), who curated “Predecessor: Work from the Layton School of Art” at MIAD, which tied in to the college’s 50th anniversary.

The 2025 edition of “As Ever, Miriam” (Combos Press) is available at Lion’s Tooth in Bayview, WI, for $25.

Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink. Image courtesy of Faythe Levine.

“Queer Investigation & Storytelling in the Archive: MIAD Foremothers Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink” Lecture Description
Visiting author and artist Faythe Levine is motivated by reimagining archives and collections through a queer feminist lens. She will give a visually led talk about her many-year research process: her recently published fourth book, “As Ever, Miriam” (2024). This book centers on the 50-year personal and professional relationship between Charlotte Russell Partridge (1882-1975) and Miriam Frink (1892-1978), whose papers are housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries Archives. Partridge and Frink are a key part of the legacy of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Together, they founded the Layton School of Art in 1920. They were forced to retire in 1954, and the school closed 20 years later. The final graduates went on to open MIAD.

Levine’s extensive archival and secondary research involved books, magazines, newspapers and interviews. She connects archival traces to tell stories about Frink and Partridge’s unprecedented and underrecognized impact on Milwaukee’s cultural landscape, as well as their personal relationship. Through this, she hopes to encourage future scholarship, conversations and ideally more questions around their legacy.

Currently based in New York’s Hudson Valley, Levine has been in service to the arts for over 20 years, many of them spent living in Wisconsin. Her creative labor intersects with curatorial projects, writing, documentary film and community events.

During the week, Levine works as the Hauser & Wirth Institute Archivist and Collections Manager for Women’s Studio Workshop, a residency and artist book publisher that supports women, trans, queer, intersex and nonbinary artists. Her position focuses on WSW’s role as a hub for radical thought, and she manages and oversees the archives and special collections, increasing their public visibility through engagement and exhibitions.

Levine has a related exhibition, “Time is Running Out,” which responds to her archival research and opens at the Lynden Sculpture Garden on November 15. Joining Levine for the opening discussion at 3 p.m. is MIAD alum Seth Ter Haar ’23 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice). In 2023, he curated “Predecessor,” which explored the history of the Layton School of Art and tied in to the college’s 50th anniversary. The conversation will touch on their individual and overlapping research.

“Partridge and Frink haven’t been entirely forgotten nor erased like so many others, but there is still a lack of visibility and understanding about their personal dynamics and professional impact… While doing my research, I found nearly every component in their papers compelling: more often than not, a single document prompted an entirely new string of questions…” Faythe Levine, author of “As Ever, Miriam.”