Dr. Danielle O’Steen is an art historian and curator focusing on 20th-century and contemporary art, with interests in American sculpture, printmaking, and the history of materials and studio practice. She received a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in art history from George Washington University, and a B.A. in art history and philosophy from Colby College.

O’Steen was previously an adjunct professor in art history at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the inaugural curator at The Kreeger Museum in Washington, DC. At the Kreeger, she organized several exhibitions including “Lou Stovall: On Inventions and Color” (2022), a survey of works by master printmaker Lou Stovall that explored his prints and collaborations with artists such as David Driskell, Sam Gilliam, Gwendolyn Knight, and Jacob Lawrence. She has held fellowship positions at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and contributed to publications such as Art Papers, Art in Print, Sculpture, and The Washington Post.

Among recent projects, she published “Eva Hesse and Plastics: A Study of Collaborative Fabrication” in the December 2024 issue of Sculpture Journal. The text looks at Hesse’s research into plastic, her turn to Fiberglas for her first solo exhibition at Fischbach Gallery in 1968, and her collaborations with fabricator Aegis Reinforced Plastics in New York. O’Steen’s essay “Plastic in Motion: Frederick Eversley’s Parabolic Lenses of the 1970s” was also featured as the cover story in the Fall 2022 issue of American Art. The article considers Eversley’s cast polyester resin sculptures in the context of his experience as an aerospace engineer, his exposure to the Los Angeles art scene, and his innovative approach to plastics.