Dietrich Noßky was born in Gera (Thuringia) in 1937. From 1955 to 1960 he studied art education at the University of Greifswald and then worked as an art teacher. From 1965 to 1970 he attended the Weissensee University of the Arts in East Berlin and studied with Arno Mohr, among others. He worked as a lecturer at the university from 1973 to 1988, then as a professor until 1999. Noßky lives and works in Berlin.