Kay Kurt is one of those artists that slaughter moose on the side.

Okay, that might just be her because of the whole she-lives-in-Duluth-Minnesota thing.

Kurt was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1944 and was a doodler for as long as she could remember. In 1950 the art world was revolutionized with the invention of paint-by-numbers, which Kurt was obsessed with. Soon she expanded her canvas onto the attic window shades and beyond. She got her BFA at Clark College in Dubuque and her MFA at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. From there, she had no idea where she would go. At least that’s what we thought, until her first major painting titled, For All Their Innocent Airs, They Know Exactly Where They’re Going, came out. This painting came to be when Kurt was getting ice cream. She walked into the ice cream parlor and while waiting in line looked down at a gift box of white chocolates and was immediately inspired. She bought them, ran home and put paint to a massive canvas. And so was born Kay Kurt: Candy Lady. She now collects and paints candy from all over the world, especially Germany, because not even Americans take their candy more seriously than Germans.

When fame in the form of the Chelsea-based Albertz Benda gallery came knocking, Kurt was just starting to wonder what she was going to do with her up to 5 x 12 foot paintings. Luckily all of her works are now being sold and exhibited in New York, San Francisco, London etc., so she doesn’t have to deal with them. She has now learned just how convenient it is to be famous. But she hasn’t let it all go to her head. As she is now in her 70s she has decided not to just drop everything, move to New York and be famous. She has stayed put and prioritized her family, friends and fun. But a Duluth style of fun which is made up of getting moose hunting permits with her son, berry- and mushroom-picking, fishing and tubing behind a boat.