“She and Earth,” an art exhibit centering sustainability and femininity, opened at the Minneapolis Club in Downtown Minneapolis on Friday. 

The exhibit, hosted by RevArt, showcases three Minneapolis-based artists, Umbreen Hasan, Suzanne Tacheny Kubach and Jodi Reeb. All three artists’ work is inspired by natural elements, and their painting practices prioritize sustainability. Their artwork will be on display at the Minneapolis Club until Aug. 8.

Tacheny Kubach, who paints with acrylics, said exhibits like “She and Earth” are essential to her art because she can see people’s reactions to her work, adding a bookend to the artistic process.

“If I just made art in my own studio, it’s like a one-sided conversation,” Tacheny Kubach said. “Having people interact with, engage with the work, being able to see how people’s eye travels through a piece of art is really important feedback.”

Hasan, a self-taught mixed-media artist, said the exhibits are a way for people to spend time taking care of themselves and celebrate original artwork. 

For Reeb, whose primary medium is painting with melted beeswax, exhibits are an invaluable way to connect with both patrons and other artists.

“It’s very nourishing,” Reeb, who is in her 29th year as an artist, said. “People become vulnerable and they’re willing to share when we’re talking about art because it’s very subjective, but also we can relate to it because we’ve all experienced some kind of art.”

The artists’ work makes its home in downtown Minneapolis, amid a city focused on encouraging — and funding — art and culture, two things essential to healing the city’s racial and economic disparities, according to Minneapolis’ 2040 plan. 

Chelsea Delaney, a guest at the exhibit opening, said the artwork is interesting because they are mixed-media pieces.

“How they interpret art and the way in which they use different types of media is really interesting and make it in such a beautiful way,” Delaney said.

All three artists’ work draws inspiration from nature. Hasan said she connected with the exhibit’s sustainability and femininity theme. 

“Earth provides an enrichment to us, it supports and it goes through different upheavals, but it still provides guidance and support to us,” Hasan said. “A mother or any woman does the same, especially for children and their loved ones.”

Reeb said her artwork’s composition and use of sustainable painting supplies are a way to raise awareness about protecting pollinators, an environmental issue she cares deeply about. 

“I’m not really a political artist, but I find that I can use this to kind of talk about something we all care about,” Reeb said.

For Tacheny Kubach, sustainability also plays an important role in how she runs her studio. She said she filters out the acrylic paint, which contains trace amounts of plastic, with her used water cups before returning it to the water supply. 

“Trying to be sustainable in my practice is really important to me as an artist, especially because when you’re making art, you’re making a whole bunch of stuff we’re adding to the universe,” Tacheny Kubach said. “I aim to live lightly in all sorts of ways.”

Painting is a second career for both Hasan and Tacheny Kubach. 

Hasan, whose first career is in healthcare, discovered painting after taking a wrong turn down the paint aisle of a craft store. She said the art form became a method of healing after a traumatic car accident in 2016.

After losing multiple loved ones in a handful of years, Tacheny Kubach decided to pour herself into her art. She said she received attention for her work after sharing it online.

“I took it very much as a sign,” Tacheny Kubach, whose first career was in education policy, said. “If the universe was moving me into this work so easily and elegantly, I was going to give it my all.”

Hasan, who started painting without any formal training, encourages others to try art for themselves.

“When we were young, we were all painting, we lose that, we become so self-conscious we lose that because we want to be perfect in front of other people,” Hasan said. “You can just paint, it’s for your own self it’s not for anyone else.”