Brenda Mallory (artist) facts for kids

Brenda Mallory (born 1955) is a talented Native American artist. She creates amazing art using different materials like paper, cloth, wax, and recycled items. Brenda is a member of the Cherokee Nation. Her art includes everything from small decorations to huge sculptures.

About Brenda Mallory's Life

Brenda Mallory was born in 1955 and grew up in northeastern Oklahoma. She learned a lot by watching her father. He would connect objects using baling wires. Brenda says this way of joining things together really influenced her art. She liked the "slapdash aesthetics," which means the simple, direct way things were connected.

Her Education Journey

Brenda went to the University of California, Los Angeles. There, she earned a degree in Linguistics and English. Later, she studied fine art at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. This helped her become the artist she is today.

Brenda Mallory's Art Career

Brenda Mallory started showing her art in 2002. She calls herself a "late-bloomer" because she began her art career a bit later in life. Since then, she has had many solo and group art shows. She has also received several awards and grants to help her create more art.

Starting a Business: GladRags

In 1993, Brenda Mallory and Karen Paule started a company called GladRags. Brenda got the idea after seeing her daughter's reusable diapers. GladRags makes washable, reusable pads.

Brenda even used parts of these pads in her art! In 2000, she dipped extra pieces in wax for a class project. She found that wax was easy to shape, like clay, but not as fragile. She also liked that it looked a bit mysterious. Brenda sold GladRags in 2011.

Besides creating art, Brenda has also organized art exhibitions. Sometimes, she teaches contemporary art and helps other artists as a mentor.

What Inspires Brenda Mallory's Art?

Brenda Mallory believes art can show meanings that words cannot. She says words are very clear, but images let the viewer become part of the meaning. People can understand art in many deep ways, depending on what they already know.

Brenda uses many different materials in her art. She often uses natural items to make geometric shapes. These shapes have bright colors and are joined together with wires. Her art often looks abstract and has many different surfaces and layers.

While her father's techniques influenced her, Brenda is also interested in nature, culture, society, and history. Her artworks are full of symbols and hidden meanings. Through her art, she shares her values, hopes, and new discoveries.

Art About Important Topics

Brenda Mallory often uses symbols to talk about important issues. She cares deeply about the environment and how humans interact with nature. Another key topic in her work is supporting people, families, and cultures. She wants to help those who have faced difficult outside influences.

Overall, Brenda's main goal is to improve conditions for people and nature. She does this by drawing attention to these issues through her artwork.

Recurring Chapters in the Book of Inevitable Outcomes

This art piece shows Brenda's concerns about the environment. It also highlights how humans and nature interact. Brenda created Recurring Chapters in the Book of Inevitable Outcomes for the Eiteljorg Fellowship exhibition in 2015.

The artwork features dark, uneven tall shapes that are spread out but connected by wires. Colorful, spike-shaped forms are placed on the floor and walls around them. Brenda was inspired by the history of the Cherokee culture for this piece. She had always felt a bit disconnected from her heritage. Her childhood memories helped her create this installation. It expresses ideas about disruption, repair, and renewal.

Reclaimed and Reformed

Brenda Mallory is known for using recycled materials to help the environment. She also reuses her old artworks and projects to create new ones. The project "Reclaimed and Reformed" was made when Brenda was an artist-in-residence at GLEAN for five months.

This project includes new and old artworks made mostly from trash found in a local dumpster. Some pieces from this collection were shown in the Intricate Form exhibition. This show was at the Museum of Art Fort Collins from January 18 to March 17, 2019. The project has smaller sections of art made from similar materials. For example, Firehose Experiment includes art made from firehoses. Similarly, Reformed Packings features art created from packing materials.

Art Exhibitions and Collections

Brenda Mallory's art has been shown in many places.

Solo and Double Exhibitions

• 2018 "Recurring Chapters in the Book of Inevitable Outcomes" Armory Theatre; Portland, Oregon
• 2016 "A Further Gleaning", North View Gallery in Portland Community College, Portland, Oregon
• 2015 "Recurring Chapters in the Book of Inevitable Outcomes" Grants Pass Art Museum
• 2011 "Mechanics of Hither and Yon", Portland International Airport
• 2010 "Constrain to Vertical" held in Doppler PDX, Portland, Oregon

Group Exhibitions

• 2018 "Morphologies", with Mary Campbell, Benjamin Mefford, and Jenene Nagy, c3:initiative, Portland, Oregon
• 2016 "Golden Spot Award Artists in Residence", Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, Pendleton, Oregon
• 2017 "Symmetry Breaking", with Jovencio de la Paz, Jo Hamilton, Emily Counts, Emily Nachison, Anya Kivarkis, Kristen Miller, and Jane Schiffhauer, Marylhurst University Art Gym, Marylhurst, Oregon

Permanent Collections

Brenda Mallory's art is part of permanent collections in these museums:

• Hallie Ford Museum of Art Salem, Oregon
• Eiteljorg Museum, Indiana

Awards, Grants, and Residencies

Brenda Mallory has received many honors for her work.

Grants

• 2019, Career Opportunity Grant, Oregon Arts Commission & Ford Family Foundation
• 2016, Individual Artist Project Grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, Oregon
• 2013, Career Opportunity Grant, Oregon Arts Commission & Ford Family Foundation
• 2008, Career Opportunity Grant, Oregon Arts Commission
• 2007, Professional Development Grant, Regional Arts, and Culture Council Emergency Funds Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Art, New York
• 2005, Individual Artist Project Grant, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland, Oregon

Awards

• 2018 Ucross Foundation Fellowship for Native American Visual Artist, Clearmont, Wyoming
• 2016 National Artist Fellowship
• 2016 Visual Arts Fellowship, Native Arts and Culture Council, Vancouver, Washington
• 2015 Contemporary Native Artist Fellowship, with Luzene Hill, Da-ka-xeen Mehner, and Holly Wilson. Their exhibition was held at the "Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art" in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Residencies

Brenda Mallory has been an artist-in-residence at several places. These residencies give artists time and space to create new work. Some places include Ucross, Anderson Ranch, Crow's Shadow Institute of the Arts, Glean, Bullseye Glass, and Signal Fire Outpost. She also participated in the Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency at Sitka Center for the Arts.

• 2019 Jordan Schnitzer Printmaking Residency at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Otis, Oregon
• 2018 Signal Fire Outpost Residency, Portland, Oregon
• 2018 Bullseye Glass Residency, Portland, Oregon
• 2018 Research Residency, Design Collaborator with CKM&A, National Center for Choreography, Akron, Ohio
• 2017 Pulp & Deckle Papermaking Residency, Portland, Oregon
• 2017 Map(ing) Fellowship Residency, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
• 2016 Golden Spot Residency, Crow's Shadow Institute, Pendleton, Oregon
• 2015 Artist Residency, Glean/Recology, Portland, Oregon
• 2013 Residency in Sculpture, Anderson Ranch Art Center, Colorado
• 2005 Residency in Sculpture, PNCA, Portland, Oregon