KATE TAVERNA

A socially conscious visual artist and a documentary filmmaker, Taverna moves between drawing on paper to drawing in the third dimension, weaving metal strips into human, animal and architectural form. Her dramatically lit sculptural installations evoke the effects of climate change, warfare, violence, homelessness and social displacement. She continues to be haunted by children lost to gun violence and war.

Taverna’s documentary film work has received funding support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, New York State Council for the Arts, foundations, PBS, ARTE France and Germany and other international broadcasters. Two short films she edited were nominated for Academy awards, and others won Emmy awards and festival prizes over her career.  Production designer Patrizia Von Brandenstein [Amadeus] used Taverna’s sculptures and drawings in her set design for the film “Girlfriends”.

Taverna’s art is in private collections in the U.S., Europe,Japan, Brazil, and Canada. She lives and works in Greene County, NY as well as New Haven, CT.   

Jottings of a Time Traveller, series studies, 2026

  • 2022

    ARMOR AS A STATE OF MIND at Jeff Tufano Gallery, Cobleskill, NY.

    1988-2000

    PRODUÇÃO E ABANDONO, in Arqueologia, an abandoned gold foundry in the Paço Imperial, a former government palace now art center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Made possible with funds from the Instituto Brasil-Estados Unidos (IBEU) and the U.S. government (USIA).

    ENCLAVES, three distinct woven steel installations at One Main Street Windows in Dumbo, Brooklyn:
    BLIND FAITH( religious architecture stacked figuratively),

    BLANKETS (in the form of figures standing and sleeping);

    PARCELS (swaddled baby blankets and wooden numbered boxes). Sponsored by Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.

    ON COMMON GROUND: THE KIDS- 36 child sized figures in woven steel at One Main Street Gallery, NYC, sponsored by BWAC.

    THE KIDS, at Grand Windows of Grand Central Station, NYC, sponsored by MTA Arts for Transit, Department of Cultural Affairs, Materials for the Arts, and shown during the UN World Summit for Children in 1990. Curated by Wendy Feuer.

    SACK A CITY -Summer Sculpture Festival at the Newhouse Gallery at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, NY. Curated by John Perreault and Curtis Mitchell.

  • 2026

    REDACTED, ARTup Gallery, Margaretville, NY

    2025

    IN THIS MOMENT, An Exhibition of Members’ Art at Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York

    SOME BODIES, Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury, New York

    THE ART OF METAPHOR screening- 3rd Annual AMR ARTISTS EXHIBITION Galli Cursi Theatre, Margaretville, NY

    THE ART OF METAPHOR screening 1093 Main Street Gallery in Fleischmanns, NY.

    2022-23

    ITSY BITSY BIENNIAL, ARTup Gallery, Margaretville, NY

    2nd ANNUAL AMR ARTISTS EXHIBITION+INVITATIONAL, Galli Cursi Theatre, Margaretville, NY

    CARNIVAL, ARTup Gallery, Margaretville, NY

    ALL THINGS GREAT AND SMALL Group Show, Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury, New York

    2010

    ZAAT Mostra de Artes Visuais e Sonoras, Lisbon, Portugal. Supported by Programa Brasil Arte Contemporânea/Fundação Bienal de Sao Paulo e do Ministerio da Cultura.


    1990 -2000

    THREE SCULPTORS, Triplex Gallery, NYC, curated by Marian Griffiths of the Sculpture Center, NYC.

    BRUT 90 at White Columns, NYC, curated by Bill Arning.

    Metaphor Fine Arts Gallery NYC.

    TAKE ACTION, Westbeth Gallery, NYC (1992).

    THE 2ND SKIN, Hallwalls in Buffalo, NY. Curated by Sara Kellner.

    THE INVENTION OF CHILDHOOD, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Curated by Nancy Bless.

    FASHION IN METAL, METAL IN ART Bergdorf Goodman display, NYC.

    Group Show, Ricco-Maresco Annext Gallery, NYC.

    CARNIVALE di VENEZIA, MASKS Benefit for Victims’ Services at Dyansen Gallery, NYC.


    1970s-1990

    DIA DE LOS MUERTOS, LOS ANJELITOS, Alternative Museum, NYC. Curated by Gary Nickard and Geno Rodriguez.

    SUBJECTOBJECT at 56 Bleecker Street Gallery, NYC

    SURREAL FANTASIES, Hanson Galleries, NYC.

    Allied Artists of America, 63rd Annual, National Academy Gallery, NYC.

    NEW TALENT, Silvermine Guild of Artists, New Canaan, CT. Juried by Robert Metzger, Director of the Aldrich Museum. -- Claudia and Maurice L. Stone Memorial Award for sculpture.

    Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts 62nd Annual Exhibition, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT.

    Newport Art Association Annual Exhibition, Newport, RI.
    Huntington Township Art League Annual Exhibition, Hecksher Museum, Huntington, NY.


  • 2025

    FROM SEA TO RISING SEA. Drawings. Mountaintop Library, Tannersville, NY. Made possible with funds from SCR, a regrant program of NYSCA with support of the Governor and NY State Legislature and administered by CREATE Council on the Arts.

    1977-1980

    TOTEMS SECUENCIAS. Sculpture and Drawings. Galeria Mec-Mec, Barcelona, Spain.

    TEMPO … URGÊNCIA. Sculpture and Drawings. Galeria de Arte Grafil, Lisbon, Portugal

  • 1993-4 Artist in Residence. Directed a workshop consisting of students from Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage and the Museu do Ingá to create an installation of woven steel blankets inspired by the slain street kids sleeping on the steps of nearby Candelaria, Rio de Janeiro.
    1977-78 Associate Professor of Sculpture at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, Portugal.

  • •Brune, Robert. “Art Up’s “Redacted” Confronts Censorship and Concealed Truths”. The Mountain Eagle, The Catskills Chronicle, Vol.45, No.20, May 15, 2026. pg E10.

    •DeBaise, Colleen. "Shocked by School Shootings, an Artist Brings Back 'Playground from Hell'". The Story Exchange, March 6, 2023. https://thestoryexchange.org/shocked-by-school-shootings-an-artist-brings-back-playground-from-hell

    •Resnick, Aimee. "Interview with Kate Taverna".  Northwestern Art Review, June 25, 2023.

    https://www.northwesternartreview.org/articles/an-interview-with-kate-taverna

    •Mimms, Walker. "A Heartland Godmother of Installation Art, No Longer in the Shadows".  The New York Times, April 9, 2024.  Profile of Donna Dennis which mentions my film profile of her in The Art of Metaphor.

    •Art exhibit highlights dangers children face”. Interview with the artist. ABCAlbany 10, July 26,2022.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfEs-l90YbM

    “Kate Taverna’s Armor As A State of Mind”. The Mountain Eagle Vol.7, No.33, August 19, 2022, pg F3.

    •Zurawik, David. “The People vs. Agent Orange” on PBS: The Documentary as Social Conscience, Commentary. The Baltimore Sun, June 25, 2021.

     •“Kate Taverna on Exploring the Aftermath of the Agent Orange Catastrophe in “The People vs. Agent Orange””, Women in Hollywood, March 5, 2021.

    •Kellogg, Judith.  “Getting ‘In Bed with Ulysses’ to Celebrate Bloomsday June 16”. Los Angeles Times, June 14, 2013.

    •Webster, Andy.  “Getting to the Heart of a Joycean Masterpiece” (review) The New York Times, June 11, 2012.

    •Scheib, Ronnie. “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” (review), Variety, May 6, 2008.

    •Cunningham, Megan.  The Art of the Documentary. New Riders/Voices that Matter, 2005. pg 164.

    •Belchior, Murillo B. Comissão Cultural IBEU. 60 Obras Selecionadas em 60 Anos Com Muita Arte.Rio de Janeiro, 1996.

    •Viera, Marcia. “Um monumento a Infancia no Paço”. Veja Rio. December 1994. Pg 6.

    •Riani, Monica.  “Passando por dentro do experimentalismo”, Tribuna da Imprensa, Tribuna Bis, pg 1. Rio de Janeiro, Dec 6,1994.

    •1992 in Review: Alternative Spaces: Hallwalls, Buffalo.   Art in America, August 1993 Annual guide.

    •MacAdam, Barbara A., “Other People’s Stuff”.  ArtNews. September 1992.

    •Donnelly, John. “Clearinghouse turns trash into treasure”, The Miami Herald, May 24, 1992.

    •Tager, Alisa. Reviews: “Artists Of Conscience:  Museum” Art News. April 1992. Pg. 123.

    •Donnelly, John. “Clearinghouse turns trash into treasure”, The Miami Herald, May 24, 1992.

    •MacAdam, Barbara.  “Dressed to Chill”.   Art News: Vasari Diary, March 1991. Pg. 14.

    •Pelegrim, Ann, “Nothing Common in Waterfront Window Exhibit,” The Phoenix, April 5, 1990.

    •In Three Dimensions: Women Sculptors of the '90s.  Organized by Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center in conjunction with Women's Caucus for Art/NYC Chapter. (catalog p.114)

    •Kardish, Laurence.  “Postmodern Documentary and Metafiction”, Sundance Institute Program of the United States Film Festival, 1989, pp. 26-29.

    •Sragow, Michael.  “Voices From The Ghetto: Dark Music”, San Francisco Examiner, November 29, 1989.

    •Holden, Stephen.  “A Tragic History in Lodz Ghetto”, The New York Times, March 22, 1989.

    •Zimmer, William. “A Sculpture Festival That’s Brimming With Invention”. New York Times, Aug.14, 1988.

    •Mahoney, Robert. “Snug Harbor Cultural Center”. ARTS Magazine. November 1988. Pg.116.

    •Appearances [art magazine]Number 14, 1988, pg.55.

    •Fressola, Michael, “Sculpture Thrives at the Harbor,” Staten Island Advance, July 3, 1988.

    •Turowska, Zofia, “Przeslanie pokuju zakute w zbroje” (The Message of Peace Clad in Armor) Lodzki Prezewodnik Kulturalny Kaleijdoskop, Lodz, Poland, June 1987.

    •Cesar Filho, Renato. “Kathryn faz da arte o reflex da realidade”. Ultima Hora. Rio de Janeiro. 17Feb 1987

    •Xavier, Edgardo, “Cultural: Artes Plasticas—Tendencias 77,” A Luta, Lisbon, June 24,1977.