Katherine Keltner is known for her medium- and large-scale gestural paintings influenced by nature, exploring the interplay between organic and ordered systems.

Her work has been exhibited at The Katzen Arts Center, American University Museum, Georgetown School of the Arts, and Frieze Art Fair, among other institutions, and is held in public collections including the Chatauqua Institute, Eastern Connecticut State University, EQT, and the New York Times.

She had the privilege of studying with and working for a diverse group of notable women in the art world including the painter Elizabeth Murray, the critic and historian Barbara Rose, and the conceptual, multidisciplinary artist Martha Rosler.

My process is rooted in a deliberate investigation of material properties and my intuitive responses to the emergent forms they produce. I introduce organic characters, like leaves or small creatures, to interact with the unpredictable material outcomes, and grids and hard-edged lines to operate as systems of control. This dynamic creates a visual dialogue between chaos and structure, and I seek to balance the beauty of accidental effects and the impulse to impose order through influence.

Each painting unfolds through a negotiation between defined forms and fluid washes, dissolving the boundaries of sequence and precedence, and echoing natural cycles of growth and decay. The work remains in flux until resolved by a final, decisive gesture. Throughout, additions and erasures accumulate as residues of shapes and sketched lines—visible traces of thought.