Kristina Paabus

Biography

Kristina Paabus is a multidisciplinary visual artist with a focus in Reproducible Media. Her work examines systems of power and control, with a focus on Soviet and Post-Soviet histories. Paabus oversees the Oberlin College Print Lab, and teaches monotype, relief, screenprinting, intaglio, lithography, digital print processes, as well as advanced interdisciplinary capstone courses.

Paabus (USA/EE) earned her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and also studied Fine Arts and Religious Studies at University of Massachusetts-Amherst as well as Printmaking at The Estonian Academy of Arts. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, and China, with recent solo exhibitions including Meanwhile at Hobusepea Galerii (Estonia) and Something to Believe In at the McDonough Museum of Art (OH). Paabus is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship for Installation Art in Estonia, the Grant Wood Fellowship in Printmaking at the University of Iowa, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Southern Graphics Council International Guanlan Residency Award, and Oberlin College faculty grants. Paabus has attended numerous artist residences such as ACRE (WI), Ox-Bow (MI), Women’s Studio Workshop (NY), Emmanuel College (MA), Inside Zone (Romania), Culture Factory Polymer (Estonia), SÍM (Iceland), MUHU A.I. (Estonia), Kimmel Harding Nelson (NE), Guanlan Original Printmaking Base (China), NCCA Kronstadt (Russia), Anderson Ranch Art Center (CO), KALA (CA), Soaring Gardens (PA), Grafodroom (Estonia), Estonian Academy of Arts-Graafika (Estonia), and TYPA (Estonia). Institutions that have collected her work include Cleveland Clinic, University of Iowa Art Museum, China Printmaking Museum, DePaul Art Museum, Progressive Insurance, and Harvard Art Museums.

Paabus has served on the boards of the Mid America Print Council and Zygote Press, and is a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association and The Association of Estonian Printmakers. Prior to arriving in Oberlin, Paabus was an instructor and graduate coordinator in the Department of Printmedia at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a visiting assistant professor and Grant Wood Fellow in Printmaking at the University of Iowa. She has also taught at Ox-Bow School of Art, Penland School of Craft, and the Estonian Academy of Arts.

In addition to her role in the Studio Art Department, Paabus is also the Director of the Oberlin Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies (OCREECAS).