Kristina Paabus studied Fine Arts and Religious Studies at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst), studied Printmaking at The Estonian Academy of Arts (EAA), and received a BFA and Art History Concentration from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2009, she earned her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then moved to Tallinn (Estonia) as a Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Artist at the EAA. Paabus’s work examines systems of logic that both groups and individuals use to enforce perceptions of structure. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she creates images, environments, and situations that teeter between reality and illusion. Paabus has exhibited her work in Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Rosendale, Providence, Reykjavik, Miami, Berlin, and Tallinn. Recent residencies include ACRE (WI), Ox-Bow (MI), Women’s Studio Workshop (NY), Lill Street (IL), Culture Factory Polymer (Estonia), Samband Íslenskra Myndlistarmanna (Iceland), and Zidul De Hardie-Artfest (Romania). During the summer of 2017, Paabus attended the Guanlan Printmaking Base (Shenzhen, China), thanks to the Southern Graphics Council International Residency Award. In the fall of 2017, Paabus received a  NCCA Art Residence in Kronstadt (Kotlin Island/St. Petersburg, Russia). Paabus is the Assistant Professor of Studio Art, Reproducible Media, at Oberlin College & Conservatory.

Former Fellow
2013 to 2014