New Deal Art The Works Progress Administration, established by the Roosevelt administration in 1935, put Americans to work amid the ongoing depression. The WPA’s Federal Art Project employed artists such as Ingrid E. Edwards of Minnesota, whose painting Communications features a newspaper boy, a telephone operator, a radio announcer, and a railroad train. Many of these works adorned public buildings. Collection of Minnesota Historical Society. Lent by Fine Arts Collection, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General Services. Gift of Ah-Gwah Ching Archive