Kat Howard makes fiber art that addresses the history of the persecution of women, through which, she interrogates her own identity as a survivor of abuse and sexual violence. She uses abstraction, the innate emotional language of texture, and the repulsion/attraction of touch in her visual work to capture the fight to break free from trauma. 

Howard’s pieces either have a physicality to them that feels almost human, or they are expressionist representations of landscapes where the individual is noticeably absent. There is an emphasis on the sense memory we collectively have with textiles. Her material choices are integral to her tactile artistic concept—ranging from silkworm cocoons and merino wool roving to handspun yarn, raw cotton, leather, and muslin. 

Howard’s artwork is an intimate exploration of gender and gender roles, sexism, and oppression, asking the questions: what happens to the body when it is forced to become a vessel for trauma? In what ways do we physically carry pain? How is the self altered afterwards?

Kat Howard was born in Rochester, New York. She earned a BA in Creative Writing and Art History from Brandeis University in 2006, and worked at the Whitney Museum of American Art until 2010, when she left the museum world to pursue MFAs in Studio Art and Poetry, which she received from Mills College in 2013. Since graduating, Howard has been working as an independent artist exhibiting her art, mentoring, and teaching. She lives in Kingston, New York.