Danelle Manthey grew up in South Dakota, where at the age of 16 she picked up her first camera.  After attending Chicago’s acclaimed school for photography, Columbia College, she then worked as a color printer, studio manager and photographer.  These experiences helped broaden her sense of how to take a photograph; dealing with various subjects, lighting and production.

In 2003 she embarked on her first large-scale project, Christmas USA, photos of people in her hometown with their Christmas Lights.  She has been working on the project every year since in a new location around the country and is looking to turn both the photographs and the stories of these people into a book.  The images she shot from Christmas USA became her accepted submission piece into chashama’s Artist in Residency Program in New York City where she was granted a subsidized studio space in 2005.  The work created during this time period became a solo show at the chashama gallery on 42nd St. in Manhattan.

In 2008 she was invited to participate in the Pool Art Fair in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City.  Also in 2008 she began work on Isolation, using a young girl mannequin as her muse to create a group of images that are haunting and eerie.

In December of 2010 she had her first solo show of Christmas USA at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City and in January 2011 participated in a group show; featuring images from her series Isolation; entitled Girls, Girls, Girls also at Jenkins Johnson Gallery.

In September 2011 she will participate in the Governors Island Art Fair in NYC.  In November 2011 she will be participating in a two-person show at Susan Eley Fine Art in New York City showcasing images from her latest artist residency with chashama (2010); 4×5 portraits.  She has exhibited her work in numerous galleries and is constantly working on new projects.

Danelle resides in New York City and Upstate New York.