Katie Holten is a contemporary Irish artist whose artwork focuses on humans' impact on the natural environment.[1]
Career
Her mother was a gardener and a floral artist.[2] She graduated from National College of Art and Design in Dublin in 1998. In 2004 Holten was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to develop her practice in New York. In 2002, Holten was awarded €20,000 as the winner of the AIB art awards.[3][4] Holten was chosen to represent Ireland at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003.
Holten's work is often made from recycled materials, and involves maps, plants, and various ecological subjects, provoking a dialogue on issues ranging from biodiversity to global warming.[1]
Drawing is central to Holten's work. She is fascinated by the process of transforming two-dimensional drawings to three-dimensional works. "In a sense, no matter what form they end up taking, all of my works can be considered drawings. I have a wide-open understanding of what drawing is. It's lines created on a page, in space, on screen, on a wall, through walking, flying, talking, via graphite, ink, sand, stones, wind, sound, ether, time… Drawing is a way to chart what is there, what might be there, what could be there."[2] In works like "Uprooted", the very shadows cast on the walls are part of the work.[5]
In 2007 Holten was commissioned by The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Wave Hill and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to create "Tree Museum", a public artwork celebrating the 2009 centennial of the Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY.[6][7] "She has marked out 100 trees along the Concourse, which is about four and a half miles long. Each one will have a sign that gives a phone number and a code to listen to short recordings of people speaking about the Bronx, their lives and their work."[8]
