About the Artist
Courtney Kolander
Growing up
I grew up in a small town in southwestern Minnesota, an area known for its lakes, fields, prairies, and gravel roads.
I was always a curious child. I would watch the stars through my bedroom window while laying in bed falling asleep. I remember seeing a star fall, which got me more interested in the cosmos. Why do stars fall? Do they fall when they burn out? Where do they fall to?
My grandparents were farmers. I spent summers helping them picking rock and spraying beans, camping at the lake with my grandma, and exploring the creeks and pastures around their farmhouse. Always excited about finding something new.
Beauty is present in ordinary places when you stop and take the time to look.
The work
When it came to college, I was torn between two seemingly different directions – veterinary medicine or graphic design. In high school, I was given the opportunity to job shadow at a vet clinic, and I nearly fainted during the first major surgery that I watched. That settled things pretty quickly.
I’ve been a professional artist since 2005, starting as a painter. A lot of my work has explored the cosmos – nebulas, star clusters, deep space. The same kid who watched the stars through her window ended up painting them.
2005
PROFESSIONAL ARTIST SINCE
100+
ORIGINAL PAINTINGS SOLD
US & CA
COLLECTORS ACROSS
Coming Home
After years of city life, it wasn’t until I was living in Houston, Texas that I could finally name what I was missing. It was like one day, I looked around and realized I was surrounded by concrete – roads, sidewalks, and parking lots – and almost no grass anywhere! I craved open horizons, the smell of cut grass, lakes, and the night sky full of stars. So I moved back to my hometown area.
I started taking photos of the areas I enjoyed going back to – the wetlands at Wolf Lake, the trails at Ramsey Park, and the backroads of Cottonwood County.