Collections Spotlight: Helen Hoppin

Not only is the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) home to two formal gallery spaces hosting numerous external exhibitions, the college also boasts its own large collection focusing on work produced by founders and early students.

Look for an artwork on loan from MIAD Collections in the upcoming Lynden Sculpture Garden exhibition “Faythe Levine: Time is Running Out.” The exhibition illuminates the lives of Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink, co-founders of MIAD’s predecessor college the Layton School of Art. MIAD Collections will lend a watercolor and pencil artwork, “The Little Town” by Helen Hoppin, to the Lynden Sculpture Garden for the duration of the exhibition.

Selections from Helen Hoppin collection, MIAD Collections, 2025.

After graduating in the first class of the Layton School of Art in 1921, Hoppin returned to the college as an instructor. Hoppin died two years later in a train accident. Although her life was tragically cut short, Hoppin produced many artworks still held by MIAD Collections, many of which are on view in the River Level west hallway.

Faythe Levine, curator of “Time is Running Out” at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, will visit MIAD on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025 to present “Queer Investigation & Storytelling in the Archive: MIAD Foremothers Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink.”

Learn more about MIAD Galleries and plan your visit to Levine’s lecture!