Kate Witte Ericson (1955–1995) was an American artist whose work dealt with sociocultural issues, and it often manifested as public art.^[1]

Life and education

The daughter of Herbert Arthur Ericson and Alma Elaine (née Witte) Ericson, she was born in Manhattan in 1955.^[1] She took coursework at the University of Colorado Boulder, 1973-75; and at Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, London, in 1975.^[2]

Ericson received a B.F.A. in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1978, and took classes at the University of Texas at Austin in 1979.^[2]

Ericson earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982.^[1] She and her husband Mel Ziegler studied under Michael Asher, Douglas Huebler, and John Baldessari.^[3]

Ericson died of brain cancer in 1995.^[1]

Career

A frequent collaborator with her husband Mel Ziegler, Ericson's work examined issues related to natural and built environments, social policy, community, and labor.^[4] While many of her endeavors used outside public spaces or site-specific installation strategies in traditional gallery spaces, she also produced objects and drawings as well.^[5] She is said to use "a style that featured provocative accumulations of materials and ideas, many of them involved with architecture, American history and the economy."^[1] Her site-specific works often engaged communities by connecting them to issues and policies that impact them in ways that made visible challenges and conflicts, leading to more community agency.^[6]

Dennis Cooper of Artforum wrote, "What distinguishes Ericson and Ziegler's collaborative efforts—and, to a lesser extent, the pieces they’ve been making individually since 1980—is their unabashed continuation of deconstructive modes at a time when so many intellectually inclined artists are romancing viewers with imagery again."^[7]

Selected exhibits

• 1991, "Camouflaged History", Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, S.C. Ste-specific works dealing with Charleston’s history.^[8]
• 1988, "America Starts Here", Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania^[9]
• 1988, "The Conscious Stone", the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.^[9]
• 1987, "If Landscapes Were Sold", DiverseWorks, Houston^[9]
• 1986, "Stones Have Been Known to Move", White Columns, New York^[9]
• 1986, "House Monument", the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art^[9]
• 1989, "Here and There: Travels IV: Mapping Travels"^[10]

References