Anna Valenti "LINGER"

LOCATION: Plinth Gallery - 3520 Brighton Blvd

CATEGORIES: Art Events | First Fridays

PAST DATE AND TIME:

• Fri, Oct 6, 2023 - Sat, Oct 28, 2023  

For our October exhibition, Plinth Gallery is pleased to present the work of Anna Valenti. The artist received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder and completed her Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from the Maine College of Art and Design. She is the recipient of an NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) Graduate Student Fellowship, and a Colorado Art Grant. She is currently an assistant professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.

Inspired by family traditions of weaving and gardening, her work centers around gathering spaces and objects that cultivate connection. A mix of materials plays an important part in her work. From hemp to linen to cellulose, she add fibers to clay bodies to improve tensile strength for building as well as structural support for handling. In a soft state, clay and fiber memories parallel one another. She makes coils of this fiber clay by hand-rolling and pinching, leaving impressions with each touch of the hand. Every weaving starts with a single line: over and under at intersecting angles, through layers of multiple coils of fiber clay she build up lattice forms.

Her work centers around gathering spaces that cultivate connection. She builds architectural installations, with screened structures that provide shade, airflow and shelter while symbolizing openness, empathy, and connectivity. Trellises, pergolas, and courtyards are open, airy structures that dance between indoor and outdoor spaces. Lattice is an arrangement of overlapping laths that form an anchor for something to hold onto or space for growth. These structures of support offer a place for people to gather and a moment to rest beneath the shade. She creates these spaces to slow down, contemplate, to gather, connect.

“Linger,” Anna Valenti’s exhibition at Plinth Gallery opens First Friday, October 6, from 6pm to 9pm and will be on view through October 28. The artist will be present for the opening.