A collective of eight area art students are taking matters into their own hands and forging their own way. These students are streamlining Ochre Creative Studios, a studio and gallery space intended to further their development as artists while providing the community with creative services and increasing the presence of public art.

The students behind the creation of Ochre Creative Studios are Ben Neyers, Nathan Carvell, Tyler Gefroh, Emma Beatrez, Bea Weber, Emily Beaman, Andrea Qual and Nikayla Snyder.

The idea for founding their own gallery and studio came from a desire to have more freedom in producing artwork, the growth of the North Dakota State art department and a need for more space.

“The art department is really successful right now. We just got a huge million dollar endowment and so there is kind of a lack of studio space right now because it is a booming art department,” Neyers says.

The endowment mentioned being the one given by Jim Falck, an architecture and art graduate of NDSU. Falck provided and endowment and artwork that total to $3.6 million intended to fund visual art students and program and faculty development.

This lead to the group of art students to come about the idea of starting their own gallery and studio space. With the recent endowment, they now had the resources to pursue their ideas on a much larger scale and take the next step.

“Our professors are helping us get a lot of exposure and stuff. Just for us to do what we wanted to do, it was time for us just to go out on our own and rent our own space,” Neyers says on the decision to found Ochre Creative Studios.

The eight young artists that comprise the new creative collective are all in their 20s and eager to spearhead this new artistic and business endeavor.

“It is another thing that puts us apart from the rest of the galleries in the area,” Neyers continues. “A lot of them are more established people. We are all just up and coming artists.”

To be at the inception of a new contribution to the Fargo art scene is really quite refreshing and exciting. The artists have their goals in mind and are driven to find success. In this way, Ochre Creative Studios will incorporate the public into their growth as a studio.

Ochre Creative Studios’ first exhibition entitled “Staring Contest” will be 5-9 p.m. It will feature self portraits of all eight artists as their initial show.

The studio space is located in a three-stall garage in the back alley of the Teamsters building at 1114 Main Avenue, Fargo.

“It’s a very unique space and it kind of pushes the boundaries for what is acceptable for fine art,” Neyers concludes. “It’s not like your clean white wall gallery like everything else you see. It’s a grungy garage in an alley. We’re unique in that way, I’d say.”

Editor’s Note: Emily Beaman also works as a graphic designer for The Spectrum.