Bio
In addition to her studio-centered work, Kathryn Nobbe has reveled in collaborative work with other artists of different disciplines She has also enjoyed creating public artwork, including a large-scale outdoor mural for the Pillsbury House in Minneapolis, which involved a creative collaboration with the community it celebrated.
Other projects include: a set design for the new music opera Mirabell’s Book of Numbers, by composer Marjorie Hess, Corn Palace Productions, and writer James Merrill; a "painting performance" created for composer Homer Lambrecht and the Ancia Quartet; and a series of 27 paintings for Eugene Garber's award-winning novel The Historian, commissioned and published by independent small press Milkweed Editions. Ms. Nobbe’s video, recapitulation, was awarded and selected for broadcast on public television by a jury representing the Walker Art Center, International Filmmaker Project USA, Twin Cities Public Television, and Intermedia Arts.
Over the past 40+ years of dedicating her life to making art, Ms. Nobbe has received numerous fellowships, awards and commissions from local and international organizations. Selections from this list include: Forecast Public Artworks; Jerome Foundation; McKnight Artist Fellowship (2001 winner and 2015, 2021 finalist); Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture; The Robert Rauschenberg’s Foundation; and Artists Fellowship. She has received two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants, the Capelli d’Angeli Foundation Grant and is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship.
Ms. Nobbe’s work was represented by Dolly Fiterman Fine Arts in Minneapolis from 1991 through it's close in 2017. She is currently, a member of Form + Content Gallery, in Minneapolis. Her paintings and drawings are in numerous public and private collections in the United States and abroad.
Education
1985-1989
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
MFA -
Major field: Studio Arts
Minor field: Art History
During her years in graduate school, Ms. Nobbe worked as both a graduate teaching and research assistant. For her research assistantship, Nobbe single-handedly created an innovative new program through the Graduate School, the Art Department and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, which allowed for graduate research assistants to work off-campus in degree-related jobs. Similar to a modern-day paid college internship, Nobbe parlayed her university-funded position into a position as an arts administer at Forecast Public Artworks, which continued for years after her tenure in graduate school.
1980-1982
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
BFA - summa cum laude, University Honors Program
Major field: Studio Arts, emphasis in Drawing and Painting
Minor field: Art History
1989
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Skowhegan, Maine
Ms. Nobbe was nominated by the University of Minnesota's Department of Studio Arts to attend the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Her acceptance via SSPS's rigerous selection process was met with a full international scholarship to attend the program. There, she studied with Petah Coyne, Leon Golub, Jacob Lawrence, Marjorie Portnow, Judy Rifka, John Walker, Terry Winters and critic Arthur Danto.
1977-1979
Concordia College, Moorehead, MN
Major field: Studio Arts
Ms. Nobbe created and ran the student artist drawing co-op and served as the student-director of the art gallery. She mentored with Orland Rourke and . In the summer of 1979, she served as student mentor and liason for the Art History Summer Seminar which involved extensive touring and study in museums and historical sites in England, France, Greece, and Italy.