Katie Sandberg

Waabishkii Animikii, Katie Lou Sandberg is an Anishinaabe (White Earth 1st-Generation) Contemporary Visual Artist living in Detroit Lakes, MN.  She recently graduated from White Earth Tribal and Community College in May 2019.  Sandberg earned her A.A. degree with honors and maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout her college career.  Her favorite memory was being given the honor to speak at WETCC’s 2019 graduation.  Katie is now at Minnesota State University, Moorhead where she plans to obtain two BFA’s in Art Education and in Studio Art with an Emphasis in Painting and an Art Therapy Minor.  She is also considering the pursuit of an MFA in the future.

Her inspiration for becoming an artist comes from her mother Peggy.  Katie Lou states growing up in an art friendly home, filled with art supplies, and kind support helped nurture her passion.  Many times in Katie’s life her health has been unpredictable, requiring several life-saving surgeries including giving birth to her son 11 ½ weeks premature, 3 open heart surgeries, and 5 lung procedures (4 of which in 2019), which recently brought her lung function from 40 to 80%! For Katie Lou, art has always been her best form of therapy and first source of stress relief.  One could say art has saved her life in more ways than one.  Katie wants to share her knowledge and help others through her art.  She is an advocate for supporting local art, keeping art in schools, she embraces her Anishinaabe heritage, and also advocates for artists living with disabilities.

Katie has enjoyed volunteering her time teaching painting and drawing classes for youth and adults through community education.  She has instructed classes for the communities of Mahnomen, Detroit Lakes, and Frazee-Perham.  Katie was recently awarded the Anishinaabe Individual Artist Grant through Region 2 Arts Council and the McKnight Foundation.  Sandberg’s primary mediums of choice are oil and acrylic paints and would describe her style as contemporary and impressionistic.  Katie Lou has also developed a deeper appreciation of her photography while attending MSUM’s School of Art and likes working with both 35mm and digital photos.  Her focus of her work is emotion based and subject matter often includes nature, landscapes, and portraiture.  Katie enjoys painting without reference pieces when she can.  She likes to capture her dreams and her emotions on canvas.  Her recent work, “Waabishkii Animikii,” reflects this and is titled after her namesake.   A “self-portrait” of sorts, Katie did not use a reference piece for this work.  Instead, Kate is displaying what came to her in a dream and believes this is how her soul looks.