WBCA Stories – White Bear Center for the Arts

Chris Scholl Welcomed as White Bear Center for the Arts’ next Executive Director

It is with tremendous enthusiasm that White Bear Center for the Arts (WBCA) announces Chris Scholl will be its next Executive Director, beginning on August 7. In Chris’s words, “I was first an artist myself, and later realized that my gifts as an administrator are greater than as an artist. Since then I’ve used my…

Capturing Summer through Plein Air Painting

We spend so much of the year dreaming about Minnesota summers. Going to the lake, long evenings spent outside, and finally seeing that glorious sun. But when it gets here, doesn’t it always seem to slip through our fingers? Somehow we blink and all of our lofty goals of spending every second hiking or in…

An Abundance of Love: Artist Highlight with Genie Hien Tran

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…

Studio Coffee Tries Plein Air

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…

For the Love of Clay

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…

Why We Give

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…