Born in Wisconsin, Grabner received her artistic education from Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee—and is now a professor and Chair of the Painting and Drawing Department at The School of Art Institute in Chicago. Her abstract paintings consist of mathematical and repetitious vocabulary. Art critic Barry Schwabsky—another speaker in this visiting artist talk series—said of her work, “Her paintings refer to the traditionally feminine realm of the domestic by way of the metaphorically loaded imagery of fabrics and textiles”. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally; she is a critic for Artforum and runs the project spaces The Suburban in Oak Park, IL and The Poor Farm in Waupaca County in Wisconsin.