Danielle Shelley says, "I bring an extremely varied background to my art. Although I was always "making things" as a kid, I left art when I was a teenager and went on to get a B.A. in economics and M.A. in African Studies. I taught Math and French in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer; studied Middle Eastern History and Arabic at the University of London, and traveled widely in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Everywhere I went I absorbed art, whether …
Danielle Shelley says, "I bring an extremely varied background to my art. Although I was always "making things" as a kid, I left art when I was a teenager and went on to get a B.A. in economics and M.A. in African Studies. I taught Math and French in West Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer; studied Middle Eastern History and Arabic at the University of London, and traveled widely in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Everywhere I went I absorbed art, whether in an African weaver's hut or in the great museums of Europe. After working as a freelance writer, business librarian and editor, I returned to art full-time in 1993. I think of myself as a painter, but I love creating monotypes (one of a kind print). I make them without a press, so the process could equally well be called "transfer painting." My monotypes, paintings and drawings have been exhibited around the country and have received a number of awards. My obsessions as an artist include stillness and empty space; the power of color; line as an expression of mind, body and emotion and the way artists of every time and place transmute life into art. What's most important to me is that my work creates a lived experience for those who see it. This experience creates the connection between artist and viewer that I value so much."
