Valerie Mann

member since 2009

To see more work and read her blog, visit Mann's website: http://valerie-mann.squarespace.com/

Artist Bio:

Valerie Mann earned a BFA in painting from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an MFA in sculpture from Michigan State University.  She has been making art, exhibiting and selling her work in the U.S. and abroad for over 30 years. Currently, she’s a part-time drawing instructor at Washtenaw Community College. She has taught students in pre-school age programs, through all levels of K-12, alternative high school programs, and as an adjunct college professor. She continues to teach multi-age adult classes in various media and students in ‘at-risk’ programs.  She lectures on the importance of nurturing creativity and ‘art as problem-solving’.  She is also an evangelist for the use of power tools at a young age.

 Having grown up on a working family farm in Indiana, she spent many an hour outdoors, paying attention to her environment, the animals and plants surrounding her.  ‘Humbling’ is the word to describe the relationship she cultivated with nature.  Her understanding of the interconnectedness of plant and animal life is informed by her experiences outdoors on the farm and a love of outdoor activities.  Her work is heavily influenced by her relationship with the outdoors especially how light affects shadow and visual perception.

Her installation work is deeply rooted in sewing techniques and feminist and social justice themes. Her wall sculptures aim to make the most of shadow and its relationship to the object casting the shadows, while also having a relationship of ‘play’ with the viewer.

She says, “I make most of my sculptural work with re-purposed materials. I've worked this way long before it was cool. It has, however, always been important to me that the previous life of the material isn't necessarily evident.  The materials transcend their previous lives.”

Mann’s watercolors continue the exploration of shadow and the visual excitement where 2D and 3D intersect. When asked how she justifies her pursuit of such different bodies of work, her reply is this, “ I feel that all of these art forms feed into my visual understanding and broaden my visual vocabulary, and, especially, my repertoire of techniques for making.”