Racine Art Museum

The Racine Art Museum is one of the most significant contemporary craft museums in the United States, with a permanent collection of more than 8,000 objects from nationally and internationally recognized artists. RAM's mission is to elevate the stature of craft to fine arts by presenting ceramics, fibers, glass, metals, polymer, and wood alongside paintings and sculptures. RAM plays a vital role in arts education at RAM's Wustum Museum, where community outreach programs and studio art classes are taught by artists working in craft.

The Racine Art Museum (RAM),which operates both the Racine Art Museum and the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts is dedicated to the exhibition, education, collection and preservation of contemporary visual arts. The purpose of RAM is to foster and aid in the establishment and development of in the City of Racine, Wisconsin public art galleries and museums, education programs and training in the fine arts for the development of public appreciation and enjoyment of the fine arts. In 1938, Jennie E. Wustum donated her house, property and a small trust fund to the City of Racine to establish an art museum and park in memory of her husband, Charles. The Charles A Museum of Fine Arts was formally founded in 1941. The core collection began with a depository collection of art from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project from the 1930's. This gradually expanded into an impressive contemporary craft collection. When its permanent collection became so large that only 10% of it could be displayed in one year, it was clear that the museum drastically needed an additional location. With the help of generous gifts from corporate and private donors like Karen Johnson Boyd, the Wustum Museum relocated its collections to the new Racine Art Museum in May 2003. Designed by the award-winning Chicago Architecture Firm Brininstool & Lynch, the museum is an environmentally sound and visually striking reuse of a set of existing structures that properly houses and presents the collection.