all grown up: the umber° birthday show! | june 28th 2008

happy birthday umber°!

one year ago umber° opened to a full house. the show consisted of photographs taken and artifacts found during the evolution of the art space from a dilapidated storage container to a beautiful art space. this year the anniversary show will be a collection of art created over
the past year within the walls of umber° studios by its own founders, jessica, janell, roger and phil.

in the course of one year the rogue umber° studios has had 15 art shows and shown the work of over 60 artists. a space for yoga,
theatre rehearsals, dance and personal studio work, umber° has become a space for art of all kinds. umber° studios has and will
continue to remain commission-free and will host a number of local, national, and international shows throughout the remainder
of 2008 and into 2009.

thank you for your support of umber° studios and to the artists who have made it what it is!

a bio of the stellar umber° folk:

janell vircks
in a time where digital photography dominates the medium janell has continued to shoot film and print by hand in a traditional darkroom (in the basement of umber° studios). her black and white photographs range from portraits to architecture to landscape but all have a thread of emotion that tie them to the poetic feelings coming from her photographic vision. she observes and lives life as a cluster of experiences, drawing out the most from each one; from these moments she has photographed what it felt like to be in the moment rather than what it looked like. taking these images to the basement, she prints with texture and intention to create the emotive quality for the viewer to translate.

jessica helvey
after being forced out of many minneapolis studio spaces, jessica had an idea for a space that would not only be her personal art studio, but also a gallery space to display the work of all artists. after two months of renovation, she had a space and a name: umber° studios. jessica is a painter, printmaker, and polaroid transferer, a typewriter collector and a sparrow lover. she works on canvas and paper, with ink, oils, watercolour, ribbon, pencil, charcoal, chalk pastel and woodblock type.

phil behrend
a photographer of many years, phil has traveled and photographed nationally and internationally. he is the co-creator of the basement darkroom and has printed his own photographs throughout his year at umber° studios. phil is an accomplished tubador, umber basement flood relief worker, stone mason, wood-wright, thinker, story teller, ideas man and a necessity at umber° studios.