The woven, patterned sculptures I make from beads, fabric, sewing notions and repurposed items are a descendant of what the writer Lucy Lippard referred to as “eccentric abstraction” in that they are “idiosyncratic, organic forms, materials that appear to be malleable and pliable, craft-based techniques, and, in many cases, an engagement with gender and sexuality.” These pieces are informally constructed from everyday objects and materials, but result in elaborate ornamental forms. The Buddhist phrase “outrageous elegance” describes this dichotomy as a manner that is approachable by being neither too cold (elegance alone) nor too wild (outrageousness alone). 

Katherine Daniels explores the archetypal ideal of a garden in paradise through sculptures, installations and public art. She creates her body of work using recycled materials, repurposed items, sewing notions, and fabric with traditional craft techniques such as weaving, sewing, and beading.

Katherine Daniels received 2013 Puffin Foundation Grant to create North Star at 117th Street and Fredrick Douglas Boulevard in Harlem, NY. She created Ornamental Paths at Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx NY for the 2012 Clare Weiss Emerging Artist Award for Public Art from the New York City Parks Department. She made Viel in 2011 for the chashama Donnel Library Windows and St. Nicholas Park Mesh in 2012 with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Manhattan Creative Communities Grants. In 2011, she also installed the fence weaving Lincoln Road Serape on a pedestrian bridge in Brooklyn for the community group LinRoFORMA Association with a New York City Department of Transportation grant. Katherine Daniels was granted a subsidized chashama studio space (2005 - 2013), and has been awarded a 2009 AIM (Artists in the Market Place) participation at the Bronx Museum, a 2003 PS.122 Project Studio, a 2001 Artist-in-Residence at the Henry Street Settlement, a 2000 Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program grant and a 2000 New York Foundation for the Arts Artists’ Fellowships in painting.