2024-02-14 14:05:28
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has welcomed respected artist Clark Valentine to the faculty of the School of Art and Design.
Valentine, a 26-year-old native of Colorado Springs, Colorado, joined UA Little Rock as an assistant professor of drawing. With a rich background in visual arts and a passion for nurturing creative talent and developing collaborative partnerships, Valentine brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the university.
“I am very interested in providing students with the opportunity to explore creative practice on an individual level, building a program structure in the drawing area where students are encouraged to investigate themes and topics personal to them, and to look at practices that are used in creative research practice,” Valentine said. “We want to help our students have the skills to see a project through from start to finish and have the tools to pursue their own creative freedom.”
Prior to joining UA Little Rock, Valentine taught at Colorado State University, the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and Front Range Community College in the areas of drawing, painting, and foundations. He earned an associate degree in studio art from Pikes Peak Community College, a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual and performing arts from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in visual arts with a concentration in drawing from Colorado State University.
“Clark is a master of process and has built a creative practice that is centered around meditation, collaboration, and meticulous craftsmanship,” said Joli Livaudais, interim director of the School of Art and Design. “He doesn’t just make art, he lives it, and that’s a wonderful lesson to teach our students.”
Valentine is a founding member of the I Found U Collectivea collective of artists from four continents who work to create international collaborations that address environmental, sociological, and economic concerns on a global level. The group of artists met during a 2020 residency through The School of Visual Arts in New York City. Since it was during COVID, the artists hit it off during their regular virtual meetings.
Clark Valentine works on an exhibition at Villa Soriona, Uruguay, in June 2023. Photo by Andres Berro.
“We were meeting every day on Zoom, and we decided to keep it going,” Valentine said. “We were kind of lucky that the structure of the pandemic allowed us to have this ongoing conversation. The overarching goal of our artwork together is to investigate the overlap between digital and physical space in the postmodern world that we live in. We have a shared digital space that offers new and unique opportunities, but there are also limitations when you don’t interact in a physical space.”
The collective’s most recent project was a collaborative installation called “La Tormenta,” which was showcased at the Museo Maeso in Villa Soriano, Uruguay, through the beginning of 2024. The project took 13 months to coordinate and involved artists working remotely and on site. Valentine was invited by the Department of Culture to spend a month in Soriano, Uruguay, to work on the project.
“This is an important part of my artistic practice, connecting with people from around the globe and having diverse dialogues with people from other cultures,” Valentine said.
Valentine’s work has been exhibited in museums, universities, and galleries on five continents, and widely throughout the United States. His work is in the permanent loan collection at King’s College, Cambridge, in London.
Valentine has had solo exhibitions at universities around the world, such as at the Centro Cultural Nacional in Dolores, Uruguay, Penn State Altoona, and Weber State University. He has attended residencies at The School of Visual Arts, New York, Vatelon Residency in Villa Soriano, Uruguay, and Barac Mannheim Residency in Mannheim, Germany.
Valentine has a busy year ahead of him preparing a series of new works for upcoming shows. He will have a solo exhibition of his work at UA Little Rock in August, followed by another solo exhibition in Colorado Springs in October. He also has an upcoming 2025 solo exhibition in Peoria, Illinois, where his work is part of the Heintzman Collection, which is pledged to the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
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