WBCA Gets a Fresh New Look

A fresh canvas.
A bare pedestal.
A blank page.
An empty frame.
A window.

The rectangle in White Bear Center for the Arts’ new logo represents all of these and more. It symbolizes the limitless potential that lives within WBCA, waiting for you to make your mark.

Since its founding in 1968, WBCA has been a vessel for creation, a space where artists and community members come together to imagine, explore, and create. Our new logo embraces that spirit. You’ll often see it as a simple, open rectangle, evoking the boundless opportunities for creativity. At other times, it will be filled with images that highlight the vibrancy of artistic expression at WBCA, offering a glimpse into the many ways art comes to life here.

The clean, sharp lines of the rectangle are balanced by the hand-carved quality of the lettering—a nod to the dual nature of our mission: the elevation of art through our exceptional exhibitions, and the joyful, tactile messiness of art-making itself.

Longtime supporters might recognize subtle references to WBCA’s earlier brand identities. The new typeface pays homage to the original logo used until 2005, with its woodcut aesthetic and approachable, handcrafted feel. We also kept the color purple that has been a major component of our brand for the last 20 years, while expanding the palette with additional vibrancy. (We should probably include small images of those logos)

WBCA’s new logo is an open invitation to everyone who walks through our doors. It is a fresh canvas, a bare pedestal, a blank page, an empty space waiting to be filled with your creativity.  

Meet the Artist Behind the Look:

Genie Hien Tran (Vietnam, b. 1996) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Minneapolis, MN. She was born in Ho Chi Minh City and grew up there before migrating to the U.S. at 16. Her work is informed by diasporic memory and the exploration of immigrant identity through the use of collage, design and textiles. Tran received her MFA in Visual Arts at Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2022 and BFA in Illustration at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2018. She has exhibited at many galleries, including an exhibit at White Bear Center for the Arts in 2023 titled “Second Sources.”

About the new logo, Genie said, ““I’m incredibly honored and excited to collaborate with WBCA on this new journey of branding the art center. I hope to see this logo, as well as the new branding, become recognizable simultaneously with WBCA. During the design process, I did a lot of research and looked back at the art center’s history and used that history and story to inform the work. The design, therefore, aims to reflect on the past in order to craft a fresh and welcoming future. I’m excited to see the places it will take WBCA, the artworks it will help highlight, the artists that it will be in conversations with, and the community that it will be supporting. Thank you for letting me be a part of this journey!”