• In 1982, Collected Visions: Women Artists Working in Rural New York State, curated by Lucy Lippard, traveled across the state, featuring work by women who were self-defined as "rural".
• 1984 Big Brother is Watching: Women's Art Organizations Speak Out was a traveling show that included ten pieces of original work from major women's art organizations. The 8/5" x 11" originals were then photocopied into a catalog.
• Women & Technology was curated by Barbara Nessim in 1986, featuring work in the innovative computer/video based media. Participating artists  included Donna Cohen, Darcey Gerbarg, Barbara Helpern, Alyce Kaprow. Barbara Nessim, Vibeke Sorensen, and Joan Truckenbrod.
• Words and Images: With a Message was curated by Nancy Spero in 1990, and included work by Betty Beaumont, Judite dos Santos, Nicole Jolicoeur, Adrian Piper, Elaine Reichek, Clarissa Sligh, Martha Rosler, Mimi Smith and May Stevens.
• In 1991, Scarlet Letters, a show of artists' books and broadsides, artists responded to the demand by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms to disband the NEA for its part in supporting the controversial work of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The audience was asked to wear rubber gloves, a reference to the AIDS crisis, and to pay a 50 cent admission fee in an attempt to encourage people to recognize that visual artists should be paid for their work.
• In 1994, we celebrated our 20th anniversary with a large exhibit at SUNY New Paltz. Artists who had participated in WSW's residency programs were asked to send a current work, which was exhibited alongside their work produced while in residence. All other artists were invited to create a postcard that commented on their life changes over twenty years. The postcards were exhibited in cascading ribbons that hung from the ceiling of the gallery. The book arts portion of the exhibited traveled to university galleries across the United States for two years.
• Women and Violence - Testimony and Empathy, 1996, was organized by a women's studies major from SUNY New Paltz, Kristie Miller. Artists involved responded to an open call. The work was on display at WSW, SUNY New Paltz, and the YWCA in Kingston.

In 1983, WSW moved into the Binnewater Arts Center (BAC), which was a major step forward. This made it possible for us to house both exhibition and studio programs under one roof. The BAC is a historic building that was once the Rosendale Cement Company Store and Post Office. From the Victorian-style porch of the two-story frame and clapboard building, one could hear the roar of the kilns, the ringing of picks and hammers in the quarrying pits and the clanging of an endless stream of railroad cars.* A century later, the empty mines from those days speckle the rolling mountains of Rosendale where a "new" industry has replaced the old. On long wooden counters that once displayed sacks of flour and kegs of nails for sale to the miners, professional artists and students of both genders  and all ages now assemble collages, manufacture handmade paper or print and bind books in WSW classes and as part of the residency and fellowship programs.*

The BAC also made it possible for us to offer Artist-in-Residence grants, have a full fledged Summer Arts Institute, and offer opportunities for young women artists through our Internship program. With these programs our standing as the leading women's art facility in the country was established; and we proudly hold that identifying brand today.

Over time we have gravitated towards programming that provides the richest experiences for artists. Residencies, Fellowships, the Summer Arts Institute, and Internships have become the basis of our professional programs attracting artists from around the world. Public programs with a local audience include our Art-in-Education (both fellowships and grants) initiative and community clay workshops.

Today, thirty years later, each of the four founding women artists are still very much involved in the day-to-day operation of the studios. Together with a vibrant new generation of staff, WSW continues to refine its programs and studios so that we may continue to provide the finest opportunities for artists from across the country and, increasingly, around the world.

*From A History of Binnewater in the Cement Mining Times by Frances Marion Platt, published by Women's Studio Workshop, 2003.