Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2015, 2023
Danielle O’Malley is a multi-media, large-scale, site-specific, installation, and ceramic artist residing in Helena, Montana. O’Malley received their MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Her work is rooted in an environmental consciousness that derives from their concern for the Earth’s rapidly declining health. In addition to an active studio practice; O’Malley teaches, exhibits nationally, and serves their community as Executive Director for the Art Mobile of Montana, Director for Montana Clay, and is a member of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Green Task Force (an organization dedicated to providing public resources about sustainable studio practices).
Most recently, O’Malley has been interviewed on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler 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 been a recipient of multiple local, state, and national grants; and was an American Craft Council Emerging Artist finalist. Additionally, O’Malley has been a demonstrating and exhibiting artist at NCECA for the past two years. Their work is in permanent collections at the Northwest Art Gallery, the Taoxichuan Art Center, and numerous private collections.
My work is rooted in an environmental consciousness that derives from my concern for the Earth’s rapidly declining health, and I use it to highlight the misuse and abuse that we (humans) inflict on the natural world. I make hand built, monumental sculptures using strong formal devices, gestural installation placement, sensual form, and conscious material usage 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 eco-friendly tools and warning symbols. I marry my earthen objects with industrial surplus that is recontextualized through laborious 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.
My work is organized in two distinct categories that either show the imbalance within our local and global ecologies or serve as possible solutions for living resourcefully. My large-scale sculptures and installations offer 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.