At which university did Georgia O’Keeffe teach art in West Texas from 1916 to 1918?

Georgia O’Keeffe taught art at West Texas State Normal College from 1916 to 1918.

The institution was in Canyon, Texas, near the Palo Duro Canyon region. O’Keeffe served as head of the art department after teaching at West Texas State Normal College during a formative period in her career. Her experience in the Texas Panhandle helped shape her understanding of open space, intense light, and simplified natural forms.

While in Texas, she also taught at the University of Texas at Austin from 1918 to 1919. That later appointment is a common source of confusion because both institutions were part of her early teaching career in Texas.

West Texas State Normal College was later renamed West Texas State Teachers College and then West Texas State University. It became part of the Texas A&M University System in 1990 and is now West Texas A&M University, but the historical name used for O’Keeffe’s 1916–1918 post is West Texas State Normal College.