Bio
Delainey Wyville is an artist and art educator from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. She is currently studying at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. She will graduate in 2026 with a BFA in Art Practice, a minor in Jewelry and k-12 Michigan teaching certification. When not in school she works as an art educator at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls. Her work spans mediums, including jewelry, sculpture and oil painting. Her current body of work focuses on found objects and their relationship to identity.
Artist Statement
My practice makes relics of the various objects that are left behind, or otherwise lost, by those who I share spaces with. These objects may be mundane and seem meaningless. When considered as relics, these small objects gain new significance, they represent a residue of those around me. In working with these relics, I allow them to physically and mentally impact me. I stop to pick them up; I impress them on my flesh; I immortalize their impressions. I spend time and energy feeling them, thinking about them, talking to them about their impact on me. Through representing these impressions, I consider the contrast of delicate, fleeting impressions permanent works created as a result.
My work archives these assemblages of body/relic/meaning through jewelry, sculpture, and photography. Central to my work is the act of touch; between me and my relics and between my work and my viewers, touch is ever present. I press these relics into my skin, asking what energy a collection of lost and discarded objects might carry. How does it feel to press these objects into my skin? What impressions do these objects create, what stories to the impressions tell? How can I represent the impression’s physical realities and poetic potential?
In addition to contemplating meaning in collection and archiving of these otherwise discarded objects, I explore the meaning of objects people choose to keep. Paul Greenhalgh wrote about home as a museum curated by and on the topic of its residents, imbuing every object in a space with meaning regardless of how simple. There is at least some level of intention in every object, everything in my space speaks to who I am.
I want viewers to think about the material world. About the way their energy is left on everything they touch, about the energy of others all around them. About the incredible force behind every paperclip and bottlecap. My work challenges the notion of what is worth preserving and reflects on how ‘the everyday’ carries meaning. I seek to provide a sense of closeness to people, to place, and to the subtle and imperceptible forces that shape who we are.