I revel in things found and in the way that the random and the mundane can suggest meaning. A ball of dust, a spill of wax, the fading loops of my grandmothers handwritten greeting on an old carton box, a twist of wire, a tangle of thread, the overcast sky breaking to blue in one thin line...
Cathleen Daley is an artist, writer, curator and co-founder of Room 83 Spring, an artist-run project space in Watertown, MA. Established in 2014, Room 83 Spring presented thematic concept-driven group shows that entwined disciplines in fresh visual conversation. Room 83 Spring’s final show was in Spring 2021.
Born and raised in Buffalo, NY, Cathleen Daley’s artistic perspective grew to include a melding of high, low, and compound aesthetics. At the time, Buffalo an industrial city in decline, was home to a reverent, hardworking and artistically tolerant people, largely immigrants and their offspring with honed skills in the trades and domestic crafts – generations of handworkers. In this environment, as a young artist, she immersed herself in formative contrasts, from the superb collection of the Albright Knox Art Gallery … to the experimental boundary-blurring and interdisciplinary Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in its inception … to the personal workshops, sewing rooms and kitchens of family and friends. Daley’s own studio practice and curatorial impulse embrace such a spectrum of expression and an ongoing commitment to vibrant inclusive exchange.
Boston-based, Ms. Daley holds an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She has actively participated as a mentor, juror, review board panelist, and visiting artist for MassArt, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Concord, Cambridge, and Duxbury Art Associations, as well as studio visits and exhibition consulting with individual artists. Her essays and independent reviews of exhibitions have been published at Big Red + Shiny.
Cathleen Daley’s paintings and installations have been presented in numerous museums, universities, and galleries, including OK Harris, NY; New Britain Museum of American Art; Fitchburg, Provincetown and Nassau County Art Museums. Reviews of her work have been published in the Boston Globe, Art New England and artscope. Her studio is in Waltham MA.
