Kate Ericson

{{Infobox artist | birth_date = December 25, 1955 | name = Kate Witte Ericson | birth_place = Manhattan, New York City | death_date = October 29, 1995 | death_place = Milanville, Pennsylvania | known_for = Installation works of beauty, complexity and social awareness | style = Contemporary, conceptual | education = BFA, Kansas City Art Institute, 1978<br>MFA, California Institute of the Arts, 1982 | spouse = Mel Ziegler }}

'''Kate''' '''Witte''' '''Ericson''' (1955–1995) was an American artist whose work dealt with sociocultural issues, and it often manifested as public art.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/01/nyregion/kate-ericson-39-installation-artist.html|title=Kate Ericson, 39, Installation Artist|date=November 1, 1995|newspaper=New York Times|via=|accessdate=5 March 2016}}</ref>

== Life and education == The daughter of Herbert Arthur Ericson and Alma Elaine (née Witte) Ericson, she was born in Manhattan in 1955.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Rifkin|first=Ned|date=January 1988|title=Kate Ericson/Mel Ziegler WORKS|url=https://hirshhorn.si.edu/dynamic/archives/Works-Kate-Ericson-Mel-Ziegler-Brochure.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307215852/https://hirshhorn.si.edu/dynamic/archives/Works-Kate-Ericson-Mel-Ziegler-Brochure.pdf|archive-date=March 7, 2018|website=hirshhorn.si.edu}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" />

Ericson earned an M.F.A. in sculpture from the California Institute of the Arts in 1982.<ref name=":0" /> She and her husband Mel Ziegler studied under Michael Asher, Douglas Huebler, and John Baldessari.<ref>{{Cite web|date=|title=Ericson & Ziegler : Perrotin|url=https://www.perrotin.com/artists/Kate_Ericson_et_Mel_Ziegler/181#images|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413232339/https://www.perrotin.com/artists/Kate_Ericson_et_Mel_Ziegler/181#images|archive-date=April 13, 2018|access-date=2018-04-13|website=www.perrotin.com|language=en}}</ref>

Ericson died of brain cancer in 1995.<ref name=":0" />

== 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.<ref name="flashArt">{{Cite news|url=https://www.flashartonline.com/2014/10/kate-ericson-mel-ziegler-galerie-perrotin-new-york/|title=Kate Ericson & Mel Ziegler Galerie Perrotin / New York|date=2014-10-23|work=Flash Art|access-date=2018-04-14|language=en-US|archive-date=April 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413233104/https://www.flashartonline.com/2014/10/kate-ericson-mel-ziegler-galerie-perrotin-new-york/|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Harris|first=Susan|date=2014-10-01|title=Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler at Galerie Perrotin|url=http://www.artnews.com/2014/10/01/kate-ericson-and-mel-ziegler-at-galerie-perrotin/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151025061616/http://www.artnews.com/2014/10/01/kate-ericson-and-mel-ziegler-at-galerie-perrotin/|archive-date=October 25, 2015|access-date=2018-04-13|website=ARTnews|language=en-US}}</ref> 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."<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://thechromologist.com/preservation-order-amazing-story-camouflage-house/|title=Preservation Order - The Amazing Story of This Camouflage House - The Chromologist|date=2014-09-18|work=The Chromologist|access-date=2018-04-14|language=en-US}}</ref>

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."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cooper|first=Dennis|date=1988|title=Dennis Cooper on Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/198804/kate-ericson-and-mel-ziegler-61626|access-date=2018-04-13|website=www.artforum.com}}</ref>

== Selected exhibits ==

* 1991, "Camouflaged History", Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, S.C. Ste-specific works dealing with Charleston’s history.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rose|first=Frank|date=2014-07-31|title=50 Shades of Blue, Green, Everything (Published 2014)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/arts/design/kate-ericson-and-mel-ziegler-collaborated-in-color.html|access-date=2021-02-12|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * 1988, "America Starts Here", Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Projects: Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler|url=https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_press-release_327518.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413231433/https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_press-release_327518.pdf|archive-date=April 13, 2018|access-date=April 13, 2018|website=moma.org}}</ref> * 1988, "The Conscious Stone", the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.<ref name=":1" /> * 1987, "If Landscapes Were Sold", DiverseWorks, Houston<ref name=":1" /> * 1986, "Stones Have Been Known to Move", White Columns, New York<ref name=":1" /> * 1986, "House Monument", the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art<ref name=":1" /> *1989, "Here and There: Travels IV: Mapping Travels"<ref>{{Cite web|title=Kate Ericson {{!}} MoMA|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/66517|access-date=2021-02-13|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ericson, Kate}} Category:20th-century American women artists Category:1955 births Category:1995 deaths Category:Alumni of London Metropolitan University Category:Artists from New York City Category:California Institute of the Arts alumni Category:Kansas City Art Institute alumni Category:Artists from Manhattan Category:University of Colorado Boulder alumni