Her Creative Approach to Clay | Anna Valenti | Episode 690

Anna Valenti | Episode 690

Anna Valenti weaves and pinches clay vessels ranging from pots to chairs to screens. Anna graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2014 with her BA, practiced there again in 2017 as a ceramics post-baccalaureate student, and received her MFA from the Maine College of Art in 2020. Anna is the recipient of the 2020 NCECA Graduate Student Fellowship. Anna’s research is in hemp clay bodies.

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How do you define creativity?

That’s a great question. I feel that creativity is an extension of ourselves and seen in the things that we do and the materials that we turn to and it can be really anything. I think too creativity is being innovative with an action or a craft and starting with an idea and then continuing to alter it and discovering new ways of making or a new use for something. So I think creativity is almost like innovation but with sparkle, like with a kick or with color. You know?

Why do you couple creativity and innovation as a part of the definition for creativity?

Maybe I began with that because I think every time we are creative there’s this discovery of something new. It begins with wanting to make something and whatever it may be and inevitably something unknown sparks from it so maybe innovation doesn’t completely need to be tied to it but I feel that is what innovation means. I think they are woven together in some capacity.

Do you feel like creativity is something that can be trained or do you think it’s something to be nurtured?

I think it is something to be nurtured. I think everyone is incredible creative whether it is through art or solving a building problem or organizing something I think everyone has creativity flowing through them. And so yes, there are residencies and apprenticeships and higher education that helps inform and train skills that I think are very helpful with being creative. I think definitely I lean toward almost nurture more.

Some people say that they don’t have a creative bone in their body. What do you feel is that barrier then between the “creatives” and the “non-creatives”?

Hmmm. This is so good. I don’t want to speak for other people but I think it is how we allow ourselves to get to those places, to allow ourselves to connect with maybe those creative parts of ourselves and our mind. I have a few friends that they say the same thing, I’ve never painted, I don’t draw, I don’t like it, I don’t enjoy it. But I see them being creative in other aspects of their life. And so maybe it’s a different language for them. I think we are shown being creative is painting, or clay, when really, I think it trickles into everything that we do.

Do you think it’s possible to build a culture around creativity?

I hope so. I feel like the world depends on creativity. There’s hope in being creative and joy and it brings people together and so I have a high believe that not just traditionally trained artists but all people that are being creative are what propel our world forward in a positive way. I think in collaborating scientists with artists there would be exciting discoveries.

How does creativity bring hope or create hope?

I feel like being creative allows us to say things that maybe we don’t have the words to physically say it or write it down. It allows me to see the world in a different way every time and a lot of the art that I see today and that is in response to our current times it gives me hope of the empathy that exists in our world, when it feels so dark at times. And so I think the result of being creative is like the essence of hope.

What sort of outside things could be added to your creativity to help it to grow?

Definitely the resources. Resources in the sense, like a pen and paper, being creative and jerry rigging being creative and using the things that are around you and so it could be a make-shift studio space. So having some type of expression to be creative. And I personally loved being a student and studying the arts and if that is possible and an interest to some people that are wanting to be creative, pursuing some sort of creative program in ceramics or sculpture or what have you.