Danielle O'Malley

I use my work to assess the human species’ role in the environmental crisis, heighten my viewer’s cognizance of local and global ecologies, and show toxic and healthy connotative tendencies. I hand-build engaging, sensual forms that are indicative of domestic utilitarian and industrial objects. I choose subjects that symbolize either warning symbols or eco-friendly tools. The materiality of hand-built clay and manufactured, waste materials recontextualized through textile processes are a metaphor for the complex relationship that humankind has with the natural world. The restructured, upcycled components allude to social systems that contain, trap, and strangle. The union of contrasting media also demonstrates the possibility of cohabitation and collaboration between people and nature. Monumentality accentuates the danger of ecocide and anthropomorphizes my sculptures. By implementing exaggerated scale, I make the content of my work paramount. I engage form in space by presenting my artwork in precarious installations that interrupt the viewer’s path. I do not use my work to demonize people for harming natural ecologies. Rather, I present the environmental emergency in a new perspective. This permits people to learn, reflect, and start incorporating green routines into their lives so the earth can heal in order to support its inhabitants.

Danielle O’Malley is a sculptor working and residing in Helena, MT. O’Malley received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, completed a ceramics focused post baccalaureate program at Montana State University, and her BFA from Plymouth State University. She has been a resident artist at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, and the Red Lodge Clay Center. She consistently participates in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. O’Malley’s work can be found in the collections of the Northwest Art Gallery in Minot, ND, the Silver Bow Art Gallery in Butte, MT, and the Taoxichuan Art Center in Jingdezhen, China.