Meet Clark Valentine | Artist and Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Clark Valentine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Clark, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
I am grateful to have so many things in life that bring me happiness. Most importantly, I have a fantastic family and partner who have supported me in pursuing a career as an artist. They show up for my exhibitions and support the time commitment that my studio practice demands. My partner, Esther, and I have a two-year-old corgi named Tex who brings me so much joy. He was a COVID puppy, so he was raised when we were at home with him constantly. He is one of the most mild-mannered dogs I have ever seen, which has been great as we returned to our normal lives post-lockdown.
Additionally, I find a great deal of happiness in my work as an educator. I am grateful to teach art at the college level. Working with students who are eager to grow in their artistic talents (or discover them for the first time) is very rewarding. I love that I have a job that I can spend all weekend looking forward to.
And finally, I find joy in my studio practice. I have been granted so many opportunities from colleagues in my field who support and encourage my vision as I develop as an artist. I am thankful for the privilege to be able to dedicate so much time to my own artistic interests while also finding a community who supports me in these interests.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As an artist, my work is primarily centered on the act of drawing. My work explores mark-making as a process driven practice and the relationship between drawing and spirituality. In my drawings, each mark becomes a unique repetition of the mark before it. Over time, the disruptions of the hand change the marks and the drawing takes itself in new directions. These variations of the marks become key compositional features.

For me, drawing is a balance between an active meditation of the mind and a passive response of the hand. In the making process, I seek to find moments of stillness where it feels as though my hand is moving on its own, responding to the needs of the drawing. Each mark in my works becomes a piece of information, alluding not only to the time spent, but to my physical, mental and spiritual experience in that moment.

In addition to my drawing practice I participate in various international collaborative projects. I am a founding member of the I Found U Collective – an international group of artists working across different materials and mediums, committed to discussion and collaboration on environmental, sociological, and economic concerns.

My drawings and collaborative works have been exhibited in museums, universities, and galleries on five continents, and widely throughout the US in both solo and group exhibitions. My work is in the permanent collection at King’s College, Cambridge as well as the Heintzman Collection, which is pledged to the Peoria Riverfront Museum. I have recently had solo exhibitions at Penn State Altoona and Weber State University. I attended artist residencies with the School of Visual Arts New York City as well as Barac Mannheim Residency in Germany.

By the end of 2022, I will participate in an art education project in collaboration with the Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne and a secondary school in Melbourne, Australia. I will also present a paper on my collaborative work at the Ammerman Center for Art and Technology’s 17th Biennial Symposium. In mid-2023, I plan to travel to Uruguay for an artist residency and collaborative exhibition at the Museo Maeso in Villa Soriano.

I am currently an Instructor of Visual Art at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs where I teach painting, drawing, and foundations courses. I have also taught at Colorado State University (where I received my MFA) and Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, CO.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Right now I am splitting my time between my studio in Fort Collins and teaching in Colorado Springs, so I’d have to plan a day in each city.

If I had a friend in the Springs for the day, we would start with a hike or drive through Garden of the Gods, and follow it up with lunch at Panino’s Italian restaurant. Then, after hanging out downtown where we would drop by Kreuser Gallery and the UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art, I would want to go to happy hour at Jose Muldoon’s for some margaritas and nachos.

If I were in Fort Collins, I would take my guest for a day in the Poudre Canyon to either hike or take a rafting trip with Mountain Whitewater. We would then grab drinks at Zwei Brewing, followed by dinner at Los Comales Taqueria.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Having been born and raised in Colorado, I saw many of my peers leave the state as they began their higher education. I chose to stay in Colorado for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees. I received my BA in Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. I then attended Colorado State University for my MFA in Drawing. I would like to dedicate my shoutout to the faculty members at both of these Colorado schools who helped me to develop and refine my studio practice while I was a student. Specifically, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my MFA thesis advisor Professor Marius Lehene, and my undergraduate mentor Professor Corey Drieth. I am grateful for these two artist’s investment in me as a student and in my professional growth. Their dedication to their students as well as their successful artistic practices continue to inspire me.

Website: clarkvalentinefineart.com

Instagram: @clark_valentine_fine_art

Other: Collaborative Work: ifounducollective.com

Image Credits
All images taken and provided by the artist, Clark Valentine