"My work reveals the tension between the self we cultivate and the one shaped by expectation. Through intricate, layered processes, I explore the dualities of domestic life—comfort and confinement, duty and desire, contentment and longing. Flowers, delicate yet deliberate, become symbols of this paradox, adorning spaces while concealing complexities. In each piece, I unravel the contradictions of modern womanhood, where identity is both nurtured and constrained by the rhythms of home."

Daniela Oliver de Portillo is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Antonio, Texas. Her work engages with themes of domestic life, womanhood, family relations, and societal expectations, often through complex processes of cyanotype and ceramic-making. Oliver de Portillo’s work delves into the contradictions of modern female identity, exploring the tension between simplicity and complexity in everyday existence. Through her labor-intensive methods, she reflects on the paradoxes and pressures that shape her experience as a mother, artist, and woman.

Her titles, always presented in both English and Spanish, offer a glimpse into her bicultural identity as a Mexican living in the U.S. since 2002, and serve as windows into her personal reflections on the challenges of navigating two cultures. Some of her recent works include Tuve La Fantasía that I Was One of Those Women and Ya No Sé Qué Siento of Being a Woman Here, a mural made as Clamplight’s muralist in residence in San Antonio, Texas.

In Texas, her work has been shown at the McNay Art Museum, Contemporary at Blue Star, the San Antonio River Foundation, Clamp Light Studios, and Contracommon. Her work has been exhibited internationally in Mexico City and Florence, Italy. Her work is part of private collections and University Health System’s Salud-Arte. Oliver de Portillo is also part of the approved artists for City of San Antonio’s Public Art projects.

In addition to her studio practice, Oliver de Portillo has contributed to the art community as an informally trained educator, leading workshops at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio River Foundation, and Contemporary at Blue Star. She has also taught art lessons to children at El Estudio in San Antonio and monthly art history lessons at the Montessori School of San Antonio. Her ten years as Head of Communications and Marketing at the McNay Art Museum provided her with a unique framework for understanding the arts and continue to influence her creative practice.

Oliver de Portillo studied studio art and communications at Trinity University and apprenticed with Mario Pacchioli in Florence, Italy. She has attended workshops at Penland School of Craft, North Carolina and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado.