Exploring instability & change in a range of materials.
Bio
A born and raised Minnesotan, now living in Pennsylvania, Danielle Callahan appreciates adaptability. She earned her BFA in Studio Arts (Painting/Drawing) from the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus. Mixed media work has always been compelling to her. Years caring for infants & toddlers informs her willingness to engage with a variety of materials, aware of the insights gained. A decade post graduation, Callahan initiated a foray into glass sculpture, then segued to wood fired ceramics thanks to a Jerome Foundation/St. John’s Pottery Fellowship. Recently Danielle completed the ABCC Certificate Program created by A-B Projects, focused on contemporary conceptual ceramics.
Process appreciative sculptures, paintings & prints.
Curator & longtime friend Allyson Evans observes, “Danielle’s work with clay is rhythmic and simple, not fussy…(she) works with what happens, making purpose out of mishap in a beautiful way.”
Artist’s Statement
My work addresses this life of corporeality with frustration, confusion and appreciation. I voraciously study how things hold together and fall apart. How I’m held together and fall apart. Aging, weathering, time, place and impermanence are primary tools of my practice. I break, keep, wrap, alter, revisit and generally allow my work to change and be unstable.
Unfired clay feels apt when questioning the vulnerable, the unpredictable, but I still love wood firing. Most recently, lumen prints (made with expired photo paper I expose varying lengths of time outside) intrigue me as much as clay. Materials that immediately surround me-bricks, sticks, nails, wire, sidewalk cracks, rocks and tree bark-are frequently used to create. I paint, scrawl, poke and draw lines that connect and separate. Resultant cuts, cracks and gouges read simultaneously scary and beautiful. Some work is made very quickly, other pieces evolve over the course of a decade. Expressions of repair, stress, mending, radiation, wonder…art is an expansive reservoir.
Work reflecting time & place.
