Valerie A. Zimany

Chair, Department of Art and Professor of Art, Ceramics

Contact
Department of Art
Office: 2-121 Lee Hall
Website: http://www.valeriezimany.com
Email: vzimany@clemson.edu

Education
M.F.A., Kanazawa College of Art, Kanazawa, Japan; B.F.A., The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Professor Valerie Zimany is Chair of the Department of Art and joined Clemson’s faculty 2010. Prior to Clemson, she taught Ceramics and Foundations at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, as well as Ceramics at Hope College in Hope, MI and the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI. After completing her MFA studies at Kanazawa College of Art as a Fulbright Fellow and Japanese Government (Monbusho) Scholar, Valerie spent three years in residency at the Utatsuyama Craft Workshop in Kanazawa, Japan during which she researched contemporary craft and Kutani overglaze enamels. She was recently honored with a second Fulbright grant by the U.S. Department of Education and returned to Kanazawa’s Institute of Art & Design as a guest researcher.

Zimany is an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics. She exhibits both nationally and internationally, and her work is held is in multiple public and private collections, including the Taipei Yingge Ceramic Museum, Taiwan; the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA; the World Ceramic Museum at Icheon, Korea; and the Slovenia National Museum in Metelkova, Slovenia. Valerie’s work is featured in the Lark Books 500 Ceramic Sculptures and 500 Prints on Clay, Ceramics Art and Perception magazine, and is the subject of a full feature article, “Valerie Zimany: Recasting the Japanese Tradition” in Ceramics Monthly magazine. She was named an American Craft Council Searchlight Artist, a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist, and a Finalist for the Society for Contemporary Craft’s Raphael Founder’s Prize. She has received two international prizes - the Award of Excellence at the Cluj International Ceramics Biennale in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and the Grand Prize of Medalta International Artist in Residence’s annual juried exhibition. Major residencies include the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, at Medalta International Artists in Residence, STARworks Ceramics, and as the Antinori Distinguished Fellow at Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences.