Bio

Resident of Minneapolis, MN, United States. Accomplished studio artist, director of films on art, and educator, with a
proven track record of impactful exhibitions and community engagement. Committed to exploring and expanding the boundaries and techniques of visual language, challenging viewers to reconsider the role of drawing as both a standalone art form and a means of expression that engages with current cultural, political, and technological contexts.

Education

MFA, Fine Art and Media Art, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University, Boston, MA
BFA, Fine Art and Performance Art, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN

Representation

Douglas Flanders and Associates, Minneapolis, MN

Solo Exhibitions

Recent Solo Exhibitions and Community Engagement

Developed and conducted workshops that encouraged artistic exploration among diverse audiences, resulting in increased participation in regional art initiatives. Screened four documentaries showcasing the methods and studio practices of eight artists.

Lines of Resistance, An Evolution of Animal Representation in Nature — Inez Gallery, Bloomington, MN
Waterways and Prairies — Confluence Gallery, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomington, MN
Ballad of the Blue Heron — Reedy Gallery, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chanhassen, MN
Battle at the River Bottom: Carved Drawing and Documentaries — Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter, MN
Ballad of the Blue Heron — Watkins Gallery, Minnesota State University, Winona, MN
Ballad of the Red Fox — Form and Content Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

During this period, I painted, carved, and sanded Japanese Shina basswood, creating intricate organic patterns with animal-occupied compositions to generate dimensional landscape “drawings,” into which I nestled detailed charcoal scenes. Then, I constructed spatial relationships, narrative continuity, and embodied movement, demonstrating how drawing mediates among imagination, perception, and lived experience.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

The Back Story — Douglas Flanders and Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

An exhibition that showcased my interest in natural spaces and the presence of a variety of inhabitants. After discovering that eagles recycle everything that enters, lives, and dies in their nests, I created a series of eagles’ nests. These works are layered with charcoal, natural grasses, collected field materials, as well as authentic postage stamps dating back to the start of the 20th century. Using American mythology through two iconic images—America’s national bird and historical events as documented through the United States mail service—viewers could consider historical context, cultural representation, economic change, international relations, and public sentiment.

Comfort Me, Said He — Hillstrom Museum of Art, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN
Kristen Lowe, Recent Work — Douglas Flanders and Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

My interest in creating large-scale drawings of sheep began when I was teaching a comparative anatomy course. I took students on location to the sheep barn on the campus of the University of Minnesota. As I began to visit this location more frequently, my interest in the metaphorical and mythical potential of the relationship between the domestic flock and their keepers grew. Much like the characteristics of a myth, the symbolic forms of the sheep and their keeper often express inner conflict and discord. In this way, the images prompt questions about social and political conditions and about philosophies of cultural values. There is no defined narrative for the viewer, but the images suggest, ever so softly, many possible outcomes.

Potential Grace — Douglas Flanders and Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Potential Grace — Contemporary Art Gallery, Central Lakes College, Brainerd, M
Recent Work — Bradford/Smock Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Kristen Lowe — Thomson Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

Through this group of exhibitions, I cultivated strong relationships with regional and national galleries and museums, enhancing opportunities for collaboration. Studio research and production were led by my reinterpretation of landscape not just as physical space but as narrative reflecting issues such as climate change, urbanization, and cultural identity, inviting viewers to connect emotionally and critically with the changing world around us.

Sentient Memory — Aidekman Gallery, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Sentient Memory — Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Translations in Creative Capital — Gallery 13, Minneapolis, MN
Kristen Lowe: Recent Work — Flanders and Associates Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Visions: The Mystical and Meditative — Gage Gallery, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN
Muse / A Drawing Exhibition — Sommers Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

This set of exhibitions continued a decade-long fascination with pushing the boundaries of traditional representations of the human form. During this period, my work shifted inward as I employed visual language (and medical imagery) to examine my experience, years earlier, of being hit by a double-decker bus in London. I began a new body-print drawing series, printing my own body directly onto paper and brushing charcoal across the surface. The process felt like an excavation—revealing traces, impressions, and the presence of what might otherwise remain unseen. Through this work, I explored how a drawing can emerge from absence, forming at the edges of the body itself. I also created a self-portrait that layered medical imagery, using mapping and mark-making to represent survival and reconstitution.

Residencies

Waterways and Prairies — Confluence Gallery, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomington, MN
Artist-in-residence every Friday.

Group Exhibitions

Selected Group Exhibitions and Performances

The Carnegie Center for the Arts, Juried Exhibitions, Two First Place Awards, Mankato, MN

“My process began by making several passes through the entirety of the work without committing to cuts or inclusions. With each pass I looked for work that rewarded my second, third or fourth viewing with new details or impressions. Initial cuts and inclusions were made based on the combination of craft and content. Was the material used with a certain level of skill and/or thought? Was construction or rendering or technique well executed? Were there strong subjects or themes explored with earnestness and rigor Here I’d like to acknowledge, again, that this was not an easy process. Having been on both sides of work selection, I can tell you that each position has its struggles. It is always disappointing to learn your work is not included, but it is almost as difficult eliminating a piece that could work in a show because there is not enough room.With each cut made, decisions grew harder.

The hardest decision of all was selecting which pieces would receive awards. Far more than six were of the highest craft and the best ideas and I regret more couldn’t be recognized. In the end, it was often the most idiosyncratic pieces that rose to the top. Beyond being capably made, these pieces gave me a glimpse of an artist diving deep into an idea and medium and wrestling with it in a way that made sense to them. These works were obviously personal, and therefore had more universal appeal.”

Kristen Lowe Osprey, Maya
This was one of the first pieces that caught my eye in the crowd of work when I first entered the gallery. It is bold and rich as you would expect a charcoal drawing to be, but cleanly articulated with a range of mark making that never feels disparate. As for subject, where much wildlife art is a faithful rendering of a frozen moment, this is a piece that acknowledges the experience of kinetic action. We do not just admire the form of the bird; we hear the sound of impact and feel the spray of water.”
— Chad Rutter, Juror, Carnegie Art Center Juried Exhibition

Kristen Lowe's piece contains an astonishing command of charcoal. The work has spontaneity and surprises, yet other passages of patient, deliberate mark-making. There have been several articles written about the artist Anish Kapoor acquiring the exclusive rights to Vantablack, apparently, the darkest substance known. I wonder if Kapoor would reevaluate after seeing the fish in Lowe's drawing, rendered impossibly black by both the artist's masterful application of charcoal to paper as well as the impending doom of the fish's fate.
— Roger Boulay, Juror, Carnegie Art Center Juried Exhibition

Comfort Me, Said He — The Drawing Center Web Gallery, New York, NY
Drawings Midwest — SMSU Gallery, Springfield, MO
Everything Under the Sun: Sustainable Design — Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN
Winds of Change — Luther College, Decorah, IA
Spring at Emmie Smock — Emmie Smock Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Winter Group Show — Bradford Smock Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Alumni Show — Grossman Gallery, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Vital Signs, Visible Signs — MCAD Alumni Show, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN
A Night of Performance Art — Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA
Multiples — Trustman Art Gallery, Boston, MA
Kristen Lowe (Melum), New England (Juried), Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA

Films

Film/Video Screenings and Broadcast
Director and Executive Producer

Ray Chen: Only Son — The Groot Foundation Art Documentary
Heavier Metal — The Groot Foundation Art Documentary
Nothing Lasts Forever (Jacob Stanley) — The Groot Foundation Art Documentary
Painting the Place Between — Public Television Broadcast (monthly), 2015–2020
Painting the Place Between — Regis Center for the Arts, University of Minnesota
Painting the Place Between — Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
Painting the Place Between — 410 Project Space, Mankato, MN
Painting the Place Between — White Bear Center for the Arts, White Bear Lake, MN
Painting the Place Between — Fitzgerald Theater (Premiere), St. Paul, MN
Alumni Show Screening, Grossman Gallery, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Films of the Louvre Screenings
Co-Director

Three short documentaries on objects d’art in the museum’s collection.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
The Louvre Museum, Paris, France
College Art Association, New York, NY

Press

Selected Features and Reviews

Features

The Charcoal Drawings of Kristen Lowe— Minneapolis–St. Paul Magazine
Southwest Magazine, Minneapolis, MN
Alumni Careers, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
A Brush with Artists’ Lives— Minneapolis Star Tribune
MN Original: Kristen Lowe— Twin Cities Public Television

Reviews

A-List, City Pages, Minneapolis, MN
Journal of the Print World, Gilmanton, NH
Southwest Business Journal, Springfield, MO
Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN
Minnetonka Art Center, Minnetonka, MN
Sentient Memory: Body Prints Drawings, Harvard Gazette

Public Collections

The Minnesota Museum of American Art, Minneapolis, MN
Hillstrom Museum of Art, St. Peter, MN
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN
Minnesota Public Transportation Center, Minneapolis, MN
The Louvre Museum (Education Collection), Paris, France.

Grants, Scholarships, and Awards

Awards

The Carnegie Center for the Arts, Juried Exhibitions, Two First Place Awards, Mankato, MN
Research and Creativity Grant, Gustavus Adolphus College (two awards)
Artist Initiative Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board (Media Arts)
Career Opportunity Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board (Fine Arts, two awards)
Professional Faculty Award, Metropolitan State University
Faculty Development Grant, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
First Place, Minnesota State Art Fair, Drawing
Second Place, Minnesota State Art Fair, Drawing
USA Projects Grant: Painting the Place Between

Teaching

Tenured Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN
Additional pre-tenure appointments:
Assistant Professor, Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD)
College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MN
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Augsburg College, St. Paul, MN
School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA