Danielle Crooks-Nyland Members Exhibition Feature;
For artist Danielle Crooks-Nyland, creating art is a way of joining a larger conversation — one shaped by curiosity, history, imagination, and community. In the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, her piece “Chromatic Cosmonaut” brings together folklore, pulp-era sci-fi, and a vibrant neon palette to explore the tension between life, death, and discovery. Danielle’s process blends traditional painting with fluorescent and glow-in-the-dark pigments, inviting viewers into shifting layers of light, shadow, beauty, and eeriness. As a member of Touchstone’s welcoming, inspiring community, she sees her work as part of the living dialogue of craft in Appalachia — a reminder of how handmade work brings people together and helps us see the world, and one another, more closely.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1331studios/ Website: https://www.1331studios.art/
Read more about Danielle’s work in this interview by Andrew Thornton, Touchstone Communications Committee member, professional artist, and Co-Owner of Allegory Gallery and Star Cottage Studio.
What is your Touchstone story? How did you first hear about it and what drew you to be involved?
I first heard about Touchstone nearly a decade ago through a job posting, back when I was taking a break from creating art. In recent years, as I’ve reconnected with my creative practice, I began looking at Touchstone’s programs and community more closely. I eventually became a member and found it to be a welcoming, inspiring place for artists of all backgrounds. I’m now eager to become more involved, both to grow my own work and to contribute to the vibrant creative community that Touchstone fosters.
Can you tell us about your journey as an artist—where did it begin, how has it evolved?
My journey as an artist began in childhood, long before I realized it could be a lifelong path! I was always drawing, collecting odd things from the woods, and inventing stories around them. Over time, that sense of curiosity turned into a way of documenting and reimagining the world around me.
As I grew older, I explored photography, design, and writing, which all eventually became part of how I see and create. My work has evolved from simple illustrations into pieces that merge folklore, nature, and a darker sense of imagination.
Now, I focus on creating art that celebrates strange beauty. Each piece is a mix of personal memory, regional history, and a fascination with the eerie and unseen.
How do you describe your work(s) in the Touchstone Members Exhibition? Where did you find inspiration?
This piece, titled “Chromatic Cosmonaut,” explores the tension between life, death, and exploration. I was inspired by pulp-era sci-fi art and the way color can transform something macabre into something strangely beautiful. The neon palette and glowing highlights were chosen to make the skeleton feel both alive and otherworldly, suspended between the cosmic and the human. I wanted the piece to feel electric, unsettling, and oddly hopeful all at once.
What’s something unique about your process, materials, or approach?
I often blend traditional painting with unexpected elements like glow-in-the-dark or fluorescent pigments, creating pieces that shift under different lighting. This duality reflects the themes in my work—beauty and decay, light and shadow—and invites viewers to experience the art in more than one way.
How do you hope viewers engage with or interpret your work? What would you like them to take away?
I hope viewers approach my work with curiosity and a willingness to look closer. Much of what I create blends the beautiful and the eerie, the familiar and the strange, so I want people to slow down and look carefully at each piece. My goal is for each piece to feel like a story waiting to be uncovered, where texture, color, and subject all hint at something deeper.
I hope they walk away feeling both a sense of wonder and reflection, maybe even questioning what they find beautiful, unsettling, or worth remembering.
What does it mean to you to be featured in an exhibition at Touchstone?
Being featured at Touchstone feels like joining a living conversation about craft in Appalachia. It’s both an honor and a responsibility—to bring my voice to that tradition, connect with visitors, and celebrate the power of handmade work to build community.
Visit the 2025 Touchstone Members Exhibition, on view until December 20, 2025, in the Bea Campbell Gallery at Touchstone in Farmington, PA. Click for gallery hours.