Donna Troy Cleary's approach to art is through the lens of caregiver and the traditionally female roles she has embodied during her life - Artist, Mother, Nurse, Herbalist, Shaman in training.

She re-contextualizes found objects by surrounding them with crocheted yarn, a hallmark of Irish craft traditions. Crocheting is embedded with Celtic symbolism, representing the interweaving of humanity’s connection to each other, the landscape, and the divine. Confronting her lost heritage, as a result of the Irish diaspora, Donna’s biomorphic objects emerge from repetitive, meditative gestures and a single strand.

A descendant of Irish Herbalists, Donna reclaims Herbal knowledge scrubbed from her familial consciousness. Her sculptures give form to the unseen, reflecting on our entanglement with the planet, the beings we share it with, as well as energies she calls upon for healing. Deep in research mode, Donna trained as an Herbalist for 3 years and now also engages in Herbalism as Social Practice, starting her own shop, Spiral Herbal Remedies in 2017. Embodying this historically significant woman, she reclaims a powerful position in the community - a realm of the feminine once passed from mother to daughter.

In 1695 Ireland, Herbalism was eradicated when it became illegal for native Irish to practice medicine, have a profession, be educated, own land, vote, and speak their own language under British Colonization. In Continental Europe, herbalists and other financially and politically autonomous women were labeled witches and burned at the stake. The timing of this politically charged reclamation is significant and critical.