…following quote taken from The Duluth Art Institute website.  “The Duluth Art Institute has been providing visual arts programming to the region encompassing northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin through exhibitions and education.

The DAI is a multi-service, non-collecting 501(c) 3 non-profit visual art organization achieving our mission and purpose through three primary programs for artists and the community at large: exhibitions, education and artist services.

With organized art activity beginning around 1871, the Duluth Art Institute incorporated in 1907 as the Duluth Art Association. Twenty-five years later, a number of Work Projects Administration artists established a school under the auspices of a fledgling organization called the Art Center Association. The new school attracted distinguished faculty members including David Ericson, Knute Heldner, Kathryn MacKay, Birney Quick and Paul Van Ryzin. In 1946, the Duluth Art Association and the Art Center Association merged to consolidate and strengthen visual art activities under the name: Duluth Art Institute Association, which we remain today.

After existing in storefronts, churches and private residences for nearly eighty years, in 1975, the Institute found a permanent home with several other cultural entities to form the St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center also known as “the Depot.” The stability of having cultural partnerships and a permanent home was of great benefit to the Institute. Within a very few years, the organization greatly increased its visibility in the community and significantly enhanced the presence of visual art and artists in the region.”

For more information on Current Exhibitions and Art please visit the Duluth Art Institute website.