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Learn more about Danya Cahalan
Danya Cahalan works primarily as a ceramic artist living and working on Garigal country. Her practice also encompasses drawing, painting and jewellery making. Cahalan, of Cuban - Australian heritage, investigates themes of memory, belonging and identity. Her work is a celebration of music, movement, and traditional latin iconography.
Favouring wheel formed, voluminous and asymmetrical vessels, clay is used to create poetic and vibrant compositions. A playful, explorative language alludes to the Cuban avant-garde. Depicting that which is foreign yet familiar, Cahalan's work is an abstraction of influences, ranging from jewellery, clothing and instruments. Ancestry becomes a visual language, the work rich in hidden
meaning, mark making and motifs.
Cahalan celebrates her heritage, obsessed with the tactility, diversity and
metamorphosis of material. The evolution of clay is a constant fascination; she
views her process as a collaboration, a relationship of give and take with
material and space.
Cahalan handcrafts silver buttons, each individually shaped and entirely unique. Works are threaded and and woven, intricate patterns using handmade glass beads sourced from Japan. Some ceramic works become instruments themselves.
Cahalan attended the National Art School and has an Advanced Diploma of Ceramics from Northern Beaches Tafe. She works as both a ceramics teacher and an apprenticed potter. Her work has been exhibited in group shows, galleries and also exists in private collections.
