Biography
Danielle Trent is a artist, teacher and student in Southern California. Her practice is research based with an interest in fibers, process and time.
Selected Works
Creatures of the Districts
After researching and compiling data on 9 LA school districts that transgress or border LAUSD, I created a multivariate analysis on those districts, using student demographic groups, graduation rate, and current expense of education per average daily attendance. I mapped the percentages onto shapes and scaled it to consistent areas to create abstract ‘creatures’ using Adobe Illustrator.
The creatures are loosely inspired by plants. Each ‘limb’ represents the percentage of students by race demographics, each ‘flower’ or “eye” represents the percentage of students in the other student groups by state indicator (english learners, foster youth, homeless, socioeconomically disadvantaged, students with disabilities), and the “body” represents the current expense of education per average daily attendance. The colors reflect the graduation rate of each student demographic group. Using the vector creatures as a 'map' I then scaled them to life and created life size soft sculptures.
Key / Guide
Hello my name is Equally Divided Unified
Hello my name is Los Angeles Unified
Hello my name is Culver City Unified
Hello my name is Beverly Hills Unified
Hello my name is Burbank Unified
Hello my name is Compton Unified
Hello my name is Long Beach Unified
Hello my name is San Marino Unified
Hello my name is Santa Monica - Malibu Unified
Hello my name is Lynwood Unified
COVID Pop
COVID pop is a series in direct reaction to panic buying during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. Inspired by the everyday consumer items in Pop Art from the 50s.
Yonic Tonic
yo·ni
ˈyōnē/
noun HINDUISM
1. the vulva, especially as a symbol of divine procreative energy
Most people are aware of the Greek word phallos, or more commonly known in the late 18th century as phallic, however not many know about yoni or yonic, which parallels the lack of attention to women’s rights around the world.
Changes in the American political climate has made me increasingly aware of the role gender plays and the perceptions and pressures that are systemic in our society and perpetrated by the media. Traumatic personal sexual assault along with disappointment in our culture led me to research gender as a social construct and how it influences our youth and therefore our next generations.
This body of work challenges what it is to be feminine in a society dominated by hyper masculine gender norms, confronting stubborn inequalities and stereotypes by juxtaposing female and male anatomy with formal qualities of shape, color, space and repetition
Beat the Puss Up
Consensual
Don't Forget the Clit!
Gender Construct
Hypermasculinity
Institutional Control
Phallic Mandala
Procreative Warmth
Rape-aXe (Dick)tych
Sex Objects
Slut Shamed
Toxic Terrestrial
Yonic Mandala
Install 1
Install 2
Install 3
Install Panorama
Elephant in the Room
The·Elephant·in·the·Room
Idiom
1. A major problem or controversial issue that is obviously present but avoided as a subject for discussion because it is more comfortable to do so. (Oxford)
The Elephant in this Room is the womb. The female reproductive organs have been a source of politically charged issues that are being avoided as subjects for discussion. Topics that I feel are being avoided include, but are not limited to, reproductive rights like abortion, surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, sex education, legal restrictions, censorship, contraception, maternal health, access to quality care, maternal mortality, coercive policies, caesarean sections, epidurals, miscarriages, stillbirths and funding for reproductive healthcare.
Gastrointestinal
Wasted Generation
CV
Education
2005-2010 BA, Studio Art, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2013-2014 Single Subject - Art - Teaching Credential, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
2009-2010 Study Abroad, Accademia Di Belle Arti Di Firenze, Florence, Italy
2018 California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson CA (Painting IV Course)
2019-2021 MFA, Art, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA (In Progress)
Exhibitions
2021 re : connections, CalArts 2021 MFA Postgraduate Exhibition, Tin Flats, Los Angeles, CA
(Juried) SoCal MFA Annual Juried Exhibition, virtual
Creatures of the Districts, NewHall Crossing, Santa Clarita, CA
(Juried) Anthropology of Motherhood, Three Rivers Art Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
(Solo/Thesis Exhibition) Creatures of the Districts, AALA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020 (Juried) Imagine Entertainment, Beverly Hills, CA
(Solo Exhibition) The Elephant in the Room, CalArts, Valencia, CA
(Juried) SoCal MFA Annual Juried Exhibition, Millard Sheets Art Center, Pomona, CA
2019 MFA 1 Group Show, CalArts, Valencia, CA
(Juried) Art + Activism, CalArts, Valencia, CA
Escape, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL
Her, Black Umbrella, Garden Grove, CA
2018 (Solo Exhibition) Yonic Tonic, One One Six Two, Los Angeles, CA
Conception Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2016 The Sundown, Collective Lifestyle LA, Northridge, CA
Brushstrokes and Beverages, Long Beach, CA
2011 The Happening Gallery, Marina del Rey, CA
2010 Annual Art Exhibition and Competition, Scuola Lorenzo de Medici, Italian
International Art Institute, Florence, Italy
Cinquanta / Cinquanta, Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Florence, Italy
Nova Framing and Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Public Service
2020 Artist Talk, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2018 Publications Committee Chair, Branded Arts Public Mural Project, Los Angeles, CA
Arts Educator
2020-2021 Graduate Assistant, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2019-Present Part-time Teacher, Synergy Quantum Academy, Los Angeles, CA (Art)
2015-2019 Full-time Teacher, Synergy Quantum Academy, Los Angeles, CA (Art)
2014-2015 Full-time Teacher, Student Empowerment Academy, Los Angeles, CA (Art)
2014 Student Teacher, Millikan High School, Long Beach, CA 90815 (Art)
Professional Organizations
2013-Present National Art Education Association
International Travel/Foreign Languages Spoken
2009-2010 Lived in Florence, Italy. (Competent in Italian)
Traveled to Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Greece
2015 Traveled to Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and Singapore
2017 Traveled to Costa Rica
2018 Traveled to Taiwan and Philippines
2019 Traveled to Cancun and Mexico City
Traveled to Japan
Traveled to Playa del Carmen and Tulum
Traveled to Cabo San Lucas