An Abundance of Love: Artist Highlight with Genie Hien Tran

By efuelling | April 27, 2023

Genie Hien Tran (Trần Phan Minh Hiền) is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in Minneapolis, MN. She was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and recently received her MFA degree in Visual Arts at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her work takes the form of collage, painting, installation, and writing in order…

Read More

A Creative Streak: The Artistic Journey of Ken Baltes

By Kiara Hohn | October 20, 2022

Ken Baltes was a familiar face around White Bear Center for the Arts for many years. He began taking art classes with teaching artist Lisa Fertig in 2013, but his interest in art started long before then. Ken Baltes always had a creative streak, which might seem in contrast to his 50-year career in computer…

Read More

Studio Coffee Tries Plein Air

By efuelling | September 30, 2022

Neil Johnston is a familiar face around White Bear Center for the Arts; every Friday he facilitates Studio Coffee, a class where folks come together to drink coffee and discuss all sorts of art-related topics. Neil recently attended the Port Wing Plein Air Painting Festival in Port Wing, Wisconsin, along with some members of Studio…

Read More

For the Love of Clay

By efuelling | April 14, 2022

How Nancy Saathoff Supports the Diversity of WBCA Nancy Saathoff has been involved with White Bear Center for the Arts since the 1970s, back when the organization was still the White Bear Arts Council. As an art teacher at Mahtomedi High School, Nancy was drawn to WBCA as a place where she could learn from…

Read More

Storytelling through Photography

By efuelling | January 5, 2022

Awa Mally Artist Highlight Photographer and artist Awa Mally grew up in north Minneapolis, in a neighborhood composed mainly of immigrant families. As an immigrant herself, having moved from Togo at the age of seven, she felt a strong sense of community with her neighbors. “I feel like my identity as an immigrant influences my…

Read More

The Journey of Scott Lloyd Anderson

By efuelling | December 3, 2021

Scott Lloyd Anderson learned at an early age to value realism in his art. Growing up near Chicago Illinois, Scott was praised for drawing accurately, and he grew up enamored with early 20th century illustrators. When it came time to decide what to study at school, he chose graphic design, and spent 20 years as…

Read More

Why We Give

By admin | November 19, 2021

with Karen and Paul Munson Karen and Paul Munson give to White Bear Center for the Arts for one simple reason: their daughter Lexi. Lexi spent her childhood and teen years taking classes and volunteering with the art center, and according to Karen, WBCA “has played an integral role in shaping the amazing young woman…

Read More

Artist Highlight with Candice Davis

By efuelling | September 2, 2021

Can you describe your journey as an artist? How did you end up at Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD)?I have always been an artist but when I graduated high school, I didn’t recognize art as a viable career. I spent a year in pre-veterinary medicine before I decided that I wanted an education…

Read More

Artist Highlight with Laura Berlage

By efuelling | September 2, 2021

How did you first become interested in fiber art? I’ve always been a very creative spirit—drawing incessantly as a child, making up stories, turning ideas into form.  I was fortunate to grow up in a home where textile traditions were still passed from mother to daughter, from sewing to embroidery and beyond.  My mom first…

Read More

Q&A with Into Nature Judge Marc Hanson

By efuelling | September 2, 2021

What path did you take to become a professional artist? It was a circuitous beginning, but a straight line to where I am now at the same time.  Briefly, I grew up with an outdoor dad who was also a pretty decent artist, mostly a cartoonist and watercolorist, who majored in wildlife biology.  We lived…

Read More