Where the Deer and the Antelope Played
2024 - Montana Western Fine Arts Gallery
2024 - Montana Western Fine Arts Gallery
Fences, property markers, and scars on the land (from extraction processes) are as integrated into the western landscape as flora and fauna. They act as boundaries and barriers that protect, block, identify, guide, and contain. They are also representative of colonization and the devastation that colonialist values bring to the land. According to Canadian researcher Max Liboiron, “pollution is not a manifestation or side effect of colonialism but is rather an enactment of ongoing colonial relations to land.” O’Malley’s work is a call for an anti-colonialist approach to the present-day eco-emergency. Her exhibit suggests that healthy boundaries with the natural world must be implemented so the Earth can heal from the misuse and abuse humanity inflicts upon it.
Where the Buffalo Roamed
2024 - Bob and Gennie DeWeese Gallery
2024 - Bob and Gennie DeWeese Gallery
Where the Buffalo Roamed uses up-cycled and locally gathered wine bottles in combination with self-hardening adobe clay. It highlights the negative consequences of our consumeristic culture by showing how our waste products are becoming integrated with the land. Human-made substances outweigh natural materials.
Materials in Motion
2022 - The Exit Gallery, Bozeman, MT
2022 - The Exit Gallery, Bozeman, MT
Materials in Motion is inspired by the Western Landscape and the modes of transportation within it: trains, wagons, and mining carts. These forms symbolize wide spread carbon footprint since they are used to transmit materials from one location to another. This installation underlines the importance of using local materials.
Sink or Swim
2020 - The Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston, MA
2020 - The Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston, MA
Sink or Swim addresses the human species' role in the environmental crisis in a foreboding installation. Comprised of hand-built earthenware and upcycled waste materials, nautical buoys act as warning beacons to the abuse of the natural world and force the viewer's awareness as they navigate the space. The marriage of these materials act as a metaphor for the complexity of humanity’s role in the climate emergency, as well as the potential for society and nature to cohabitate. While acknowledging the gravity of the current situation, Sink or Swim offers hope. It is not too late for us to turn to sustainable lifestyles, nurture the natural world, and allow the earth to regain its health, creating an environment in which all lifeforms can thrive.
Efflorescence
2017 - The Emerson Center for the Arts, Bozeman, MT
2017 - The Emerson Center for the Arts, Bozeman, MT
I am constantly curious about the phenomena in the natural world, and this fuels my interest in morphology. I use the horticultural imagery of flora found on land and underwater. I am particularly draw to: the curls at the end of a vine, the unusual shape of orchids and gourds, and the alluring qualities of carnivorous plants. My botanical mutations combine the movement, fragility, fluidity, and tactile qualities that I find inspiring into a single convincing form. My delicate, yet durable, structures reflect the fragility and resiliency that is found in all life forms.
Sunken and Discovered
2015 - The Paris Gibson Square, Great Falls, MT
As you explore this exhibition, you will experience my fascination for the contents of the sea. I remember when the first pictures of the sunken Titanic were released; these images have stuck with me. There is something romantic about a sunken ship, and the ocean taking human made objects, and slowly turning it into something of its own over time. Plants begin to grow on the furniture, coral starts to take root on the floor and ceiling, the structure deteriorates, and pottery that was once used for dining ceremonies is either broken or becomes homes for sea creatures. A site that was once full of living human history becomes an underwater graveyard where nature will take its course. In the wake of people dying, the flora and fauna of the sea find shelter and live. The epic battle of human versus nature becomes a collaboration of the two opposing sides - a dance of life and death. The complexity of this juxtaposition is sad, beautiful, and mysterious all at the same time.
2015 - The Paris Gibson Square, Great Falls, MT
As you explore this exhibition, you will experience my fascination for the contents of the sea. I remember when the first pictures of the sunken Titanic were released; these images have stuck with me. There is something romantic about a sunken ship, and the ocean taking human made objects, and slowly turning it into something of its own over time. Plants begin to grow on the furniture, coral starts to take root on the floor and ceiling, the structure deteriorates, and pottery that was once used for dining ceremonies is either broken or becomes homes for sea creatures. A site that was once full of living human history becomes an underwater graveyard where nature will take its course. In the wake of people dying, the flora and fauna of the sea find shelter and live. The epic battle of human versus nature becomes a collaboration of the two opposing sides - a dance of life and death. The complexity of this juxtaposition is sad, beautiful, and mysterious all at the same time.