Background
Danielle O’Malley is a Montana-based sculptor whose hand-built, large-scale ceramic work increase people’s environmental awareness. O’Malley received her MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in May 2021. In addition to an active studio practice; O’Malley teaches, exhibits nationally, and serves her community as Executive Director for the Art Mobile of Montana and Director for Montana Clay.
O’Malley’s work is monumental in both scale and symbolic message, and inventive in supportive materials (crocheted plastic bags; up-cycled fabric; natural dyes). Her surprising combinations of scavenged materials, re-contextualized via textile processes, in concert with her earthen forms are startling in scale so viewers feel an urgency about the eco-crisis. O’Malley’s forms are influenced by landscapes (exemplifying nature’s magnitude) and industrial objects (indicative of warning) she observes daily: traps, grids; smoke stacks; rolling prairie-scapes, endless water-scapes, vast mountain-scapes. The confrontational feeling of larger-than-life work in one’s space is unavoidable and instrumental in underscoring concepts of environmental concern and warning. Exaggerated scale increases artwork’s significance though unexpected surprise and challenges the viewer as they experience altered scales of familiar forms.
Most recently, O’Malley was interviewed on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler; Not Real Art Podcast; recognized and chosen for publication by: Ceramics Monthly; The Surface Design Association Quarterly Journal; The NCECA Annual Journal; and The Studio Potter Journal. She has received multiple local; state; and national grants. Her work is in permanent collections at the Northwest Art Gallery, the Taoxichuan Art Center, and numerous private collections.
O’Malley’s work is monumental in both scale and symbolic message, and inventive in supportive materials (crocheted plastic bags; up-cycled fabric; natural dyes). Her surprising combinations of scavenged materials, re-contextualized via textile processes, in concert with her earthen forms are startling in scale so viewers feel an urgency about the eco-crisis. O’Malley’s forms are influenced by landscapes (exemplifying nature’s magnitude) and industrial objects (indicative of warning) she observes daily: traps, grids; smoke stacks; rolling prairie-scapes, endless water-scapes, vast mountain-scapes. The confrontational feeling of larger-than-life work in one’s space is unavoidable and instrumental in underscoring concepts of environmental concern and warning. Exaggerated scale increases artwork’s significance though unexpected surprise and challenges the viewer as they experience altered scales of familiar forms.
Most recently, O’Malley was interviewed on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler; Not Real Art Podcast; recognized and chosen for publication by: Ceramics Monthly; The Surface Design Association Quarterly Journal; The NCECA Annual Journal; and The Studio Potter Journal. She has received multiple local; state; and national grants. Her work is in permanent collections at the Northwest Art Gallery, the Taoxichuan Art Center, and numerous private collections.
Artist Statement
My work is rooted in an environmental consciousness that derives from my concern for the Earth’s rapidly declining health. I use it to highlight the misuse and abuse that we (humans from Western industrialization through present day) inflict on local and global natural ecologies. My work is influenced by my everyday observations of landscapes (both naturally occurring, and human altered), environmental catastrophes, and how present-day society interacts with the natural world. I am passionate about green health because I grew up in a rural location where I learned from an early age to respect the natural world through acts of gardening; food preservation; and livestock care. As an adult, reflecting on these experiences that influenced my values and heightened my sensitivity to local environments, I am especially perceptive of our hazardous climate.
My materials and my process show my concern for natural ecologies through meticulous attention to turning earthen and upcycled materials into strong sculptural form. My monumental sculptures are made out of earthenware clay, handmade paper pulp, and upcycled waste materials (plastic bags, fishing line, electrical wire, and old clothing and bedding). I marry my earthen objects with industrial surplus that is re-contextualized through repetitive textile processes and the contrasting media charges my work with tension. The union of materials also serves as a metaphor for the complex relationship that humanity has with the natural world.
In addition to conscious material usage and impactful placement, I rely on strong formal devices and sensual form to create work that is symbolically charged. My forms are influenced by domestic and industrial objects that I experience in my daily life that are indicative of warning symbols and possible solutions for living more resourcefully. I use exaggerated scale, assembled mass, form isolation, and tension to emphasize my concern for the declining health of our planet.
My large-scale work offers my viewers a space to reflect on our hazardous environmental situation. I hope that my passion for making, my love for the earth, and my delight in observing the world around me in combination with my work will encourage people to join me in reconsidering our daily routines.
My materials and my process show my concern for natural ecologies through meticulous attention to turning earthen and upcycled materials into strong sculptural form. My monumental sculptures are made out of earthenware clay, handmade paper pulp, and upcycled waste materials (plastic bags, fishing line, electrical wire, and old clothing and bedding). I marry my earthen objects with industrial surplus that is re-contextualized through repetitive textile processes and the contrasting media charges my work with tension. The union of materials also serves as a metaphor for the complex relationship that humanity has with the natural world.
In addition to conscious material usage and impactful placement, I rely on strong formal devices and sensual form to create work that is symbolically charged. My forms are influenced by domestic and industrial objects that I experience in my daily life that are indicative of warning symbols and possible solutions for living more resourcefully. I use exaggerated scale, assembled mass, form isolation, and tension to emphasize my concern for the declining health of our planet.
My large-scale work offers my viewers a space to reflect on our hazardous environmental situation. I hope that my passion for making, my love for the earth, and my delight in observing the world around me in combination with my work will encourage people to join me in reconsidering our daily routines.
