Holten researched the historical, current, and projected ecosystem of New Orleans and the Mississippi river delta, through site visits and engagement with local communities and expressed these scientific and ecological investigations through sculptures and works on paper. This work formed the basis of a large-scale, site-specific installation titled Drawn to the Edge for New Orleans Museum of Art’s Great Hall series.

Katie Holten is an Irish-born multimedia artist whose work explores the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. She represented Ireland at the 2003 Venice Biennale and in 2009 created Tree Museum, a public artwork celebrating the centennial of the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

“I began thinking of those ‘edges’ where the man-made meets the organic; where today meets yesterday, then thousand years ago, and tomorrow; and where solid meets liquid meets air. I met locals who work with land and water and I went on expeditions to places like Cocodrie and Venice, Louisiana. I saw the extent of the problems inherent in this landscape, which is literally disappearing.” – Katie Holten