Grace Umek: Artist in Residence at Biehl Nature Preserve

July 29, 2026  |  Topics: featured artist

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The Natural Realm presents Grace Umek, who is among 12 artists participating in a year-long residency program called ARTservancy, now in its seventh year. ARTservancy is a collaboration between Gallery 224 in Port Washington and the Restoring Lands Land Trust,  Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy, Tall Pines Conservancy, and Lake Michigan Bird Observatory. The mission of ARTservancy is to promote the visionary work of both the artists and conservationists. Each artist has selected a preserve to spend time in and to engage with.

Reflections from the Artist

At the start of this residency, my step-father passed away. It was sudden and stunting, and I found myself wandering in a numb stupor for the next several months. My initial attempts at creation relating to the Biehl Nature Preserve were sloppy and uninspired. Repeatedly, I found my head in my hands, flooded with defeat and frustration over the lack of ideas and senseless death. 

So I buried myself in work. My job involves a lot of driving, and luckily, our shop is located near the preserve. On my long drives to the warehouse in Richfield and farther on to the preserve in Farmington, I discovered a kinship with the road. I could think clearly on the stretches of freeway, beside the farms and fields, and most distinctly, passing beneath the sky and its birds. In every corner of our sky fly the great black bodies of turkey vultures. In the preserve, the trees are dotted with invisible figures screaming out amidst the land bordered by private property. Lake Twelve cradles the bobbing bodies of shiny herons and ducks. 

This residency began in a difficult place. For the life of me, I could not create about nature nor could I find the elusive grief-absolving remedies that many praise nature for. Towards the beginning of summer is when I chose to stop beating around the bush and fully commit to integrating my sorrow into this process. 

My goal for this year initially involved absorbing the vigilance and poetry birds provide us. Using the Biehl Nature Preserve as a starting point, I’ve gathered information on Wisconsin’s wetlands. The work I’ve created thus far is a combination of flora and bird species native to these wetlands, alongside portraiture and text. In one of my more recent experiments, I took the child face of my step-father and attached it to the body of a blue heron. There are always more things we wish we could’ve said to someone we’ve lost. In using video game dialog boxes with limited response options I’m replicating a hobby he and I once shared while simultaneously presenting myself with a way to keep communication open.

Gallery

Bio

I am a multimedia artist and writer based in Milwaukee, WI. Graduated from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2025, I work as a creative assistant and apprentice for Three Trees LLC, a small custom woodworking and tile business based out of Richfield, WI. On the side, I enjoy doing in-home care-taking and teaching. In practice, I construct every piece of art like a written letter. These are designed through conversations currently taking place, ones that have long since passed, or ones dreamt of. Each work is akin to cracking open a window and allowing fresh air to breathe on the soft, intimate forms of interpersonal relationship. I am guided by female ancestry, Slovenian heritage, and folk art of all kinds. When I’m not in my studio, you can find me reading sci-fi and basking in the sun. 

More information about Biehl Nature Preserve, along with links to additional ARTservancy artists in residence who have served there, is on our Find-a-Park page.

This residency is sponsored by Restoring Lands. Additional ARTservancy artists in residence at other sites can be found here.

This is the latest in our series of featured artists, which is intended to showcase the work of photographers, artists, writers and other creative individuals in our community whose subjects or themes relate in some broad sense to nature, urban nature, people in nature, etc. To see a list of previously featured artists, click here. The work of the 2022-2023 ARTservancy artists in residence is currently being exhibited monthly at Gallery 224. To meet the other ARTservancy artists in residence, click here and then use the drop-down menu.

All images courtesy of the artist, except as noted. The featured photo at the top of Grace Umek at Biehl Nature Preserve is by Eddee Daniel. Restoring Lands is a project partner of A Wealth of Nature.

The Natural Realm blog is part of A Wealth of Nature, which is a project of Preserve Our Parks.

About Preserve Our Parks

Preserve Our Parks, Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of parks and green spaces.  Our mission: To advocate for and promote Milwaukee area parks and open spaces and to strive to protect the tenets of Wisconsin’s Public Trust Doctrine. 

For more than 25 years, we have been a leader in advocating for the protection of Milwaukee County park lands, halting many proposals to develop, privatize, or sell local parkland and lakefront spaces.  More information about POP, including past accomplishments, is available at www.preserveourparks.org.

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