“I’ve been lately painting dogs and cats. Not specific pets but a composite of all the qualities I love in these 4-legged creatures. There is somehow comfort in this! This exhibit will have my usual cast of characters, with a few pups and kitties sprinkled in.”
–Danielle Mailer, November 2024
The opening reception for Danielle Mailer’s exhibit at the Oliver Wolcott Library is Thursday, Nov. 7, from 5 – 7 p.m., and the show continues through Dec. 20. The reception with the artist runs from 5 to 7 p.m.
Entitled “Autumn Reveries, ” the exhibitfeatures paintings, prints, collage, and sculpture.
Mailer, the daughter of literary giant Norman Mailer, is also the artist creating a 9-by-30-foot community mural for the Litchfield Arts Council that will be installed on the elevator shaft of the Bantam Arts Factory.
She will paint the mural in sections at the Bantam Annex with assistance from community members ages 14 and up. (Stay tuned for details.) Upon completion of the painting, the sections will be coated to protect the design, assembled, and mounted on the elevator tower by local resident Matt Lauretano of the Lauretano Sign Group.
Here’s more information about Mailer from the OWL exhibit listing.
Artist Statement:
“Somewhere nestled between Miriam Shapiro, and Niki De Saint Phalle, Mailer creates her own interpretation of the patterned silhouette. Once a still-life painter, in the last two decades she has been more interested in stepping outside this tradition and capturing for lack of a better word her “inner reality.” Both her woman and animals embellished with symbols and mixing of visual imagery, have offered up a more personal narrative.
Subtlety sprinkled throughout Danielle’s work, like the mortar in an elaborate mosaic, are her strongest influences: Her Peruvian heritage, the colorful echoes of her Mother’s large abstract expressionistic paintings, and the words of her Father, the late Norman Mailer, who always said, “paint what you know.”
From patterned pups, to dancing cats, to larger than life female silhouettes, she will energetically navigate this eclectic terrain presenting in both the giant and the small, a message of optimism.
About the Artist:
Danielle Mailer received her BA from Bowdoin College and studied at the New York Studio School and School of Visual arts. In the two last decades, she has completed six larger than life, public art pieces permanently installed in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner and beyond. The most ambitious of these is Project Fishtales, a 200 x 20ft applied mural installation on the backside of Staples, facing the Naugatuck River. All these works were made possible in part by grants from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, a Berkshire Taconic grant and a Community Foundation Grant. Her most recent commission is a freestanding 9ft dog and a 5ft cat installed on the grounds of “Our Companions,” an animal sanctuary/rehab center, in Ashford, CT. Other public art includes four wall pieces (2010 thru 2018) commissioned by Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, MA on permanent display in various areas of the hospital.
Mailer has shown in galleries and museums throughout North America. She was honored with a retrospective at the Mattatuck Museum (2009) with over 40 works on display. The Mattatuck Museum also invited her (along with five other Connecticut artists), to offer a cyber studio tour showcasing to their members her current work. She is represented by the Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown, MA.
Not only is she a two-time recipient of the 50 most important people of Litchfield County, but also Litchfield Magazine’s “Readers’ Choice” favorite Artist of 2023. She has also been featured in Connecticut magazine’s January 2024 issue.
The Winter of 2025, in collaboration with the Litchfield Arts Council she will begin creating a 30 x 9ft mural install on the Bantam Arts building façade in Bantam to be completed by fall 2025. Nutmeg Conservatory in Torrington has commissioned her to create a 20ft dancer silhouette to be permanently installed on the front entrance wall to the ballet company to be completed by winter 2025.
Danielle divides her time between making art and teaching art at The Salisbury Boys School in Salisbury, CT. She lives with her husband, a jazz musician and are visited regularly by their three adult children and grandchildren.
