Juana Valdes

Valdés was born in Cabañas, Pinar Del Rio, Cuba in 1963. She migrated to Miami with her mother, brother and sister in 1971; her father arrived a year later.{{Cite journal|doi = 10.33596/anth.374|title = 'There's a Part of Me That Must Remain Truthful to the Story': An Interview with Juana Valdes1|year = 2020|last1 = Harris|first1 = Allison|last2 = Valdes|first2 = Juana|journal = Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal|volume = 16|s2cid = 216299655|doi-access = free}} Her work is, in part, informed by this early experience of migration, her childhood memories of Cuba, and adjusting to life in the United States.{{cite book| url = https://books.openedition.org/obp/8074?lang=en| title = Women and Migration - 24. Making Latinx Art: Juana Valdes at the Crossroads of Latinx and Latin American Art - Open Book Publishers| chapter = 24. Making Latinx Art: Juana Valdes at the Crossroads of Latinx and Latin American Art| series = OBP collection| date = 12 September 2019| pages = 273–282| publisher = Open Book Publishers| isbn = 9791036538070}}

She received her B.F.A. in Sculpture from the Parsons School of Design in 1991 and her M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 1993. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 1995 after receiving a Cosby Fellowship from the [https://www.skowheganart.org/ Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture], in Maine, United States.{{cite web|title=Juana Valdes|url=http://dialoguesincubanart.org/miami-artists/juana-valdes/|website=Dialogues in Cuban Art|access-date=10 December 2017}}

Valdés’ career as an academic started in 1996 when she was invited by Bard College to teach Studio Art and exhibit a site-specific installation in the Fisher Arts Building, where Judy Pfaff and William Tucker were co-chairs the department.{{cite web| url = https://inside.bard.edu/academic/courses/spring2000/studioart.html| title = STUDIO ART}} From 2002 to 2005 Valdés participated in the Artist-Teacher MFA program in the Visual Arts Department at Vermont College of Norwich University. During that time, Valdés led a Digital Screen Print Workshop in the Yale School of Art at Yale University in 2004. Starting in 2005, Valdés taught sculpture as an adjunct professor in the College of Arts and Letters Art and Technology program at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Between 2005 and 2010 Valdés taught Studio Art at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY) before joining the faculty at Florida Atlantic University as an assistant professor of Printmaking in the Department of Visual Arts and Art History from 2010 to 2015. In 2015, Valdés was an associate professor of Printmaking in the Department of Art in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she was awarded tenure.{{cite web| url = https://www.umass.edu/art/member/juana-valdes| title = Juana Valdés |publisher=Department of Art : UMass Amherst}}

Valdés's work has been exhibited in over 100 museums and galleries nationally and internationally, including spaces such as El Museo del Barrio, Whitebox Gallery, and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center.{{cite journal|last1=Urbistondo|first1=Josune|title=Bending Bone China: Juana Valdes' Politics of the Skin|journal=Miradas-Revista Digital de Historia del Art y Cultura Iberica IberoAmericana|date=2015|volume=2|pages=56–67|doi=10.11588/mira.2015.0.22432|url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/miradas/article/view/22432}}

Her work is held in museums and private collections throughout the United States, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Newark Museum of Art,{{cite web| url = https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/perez-art-museum-miami-replaces-african-american-with-its-endowment-fund-for-black-art-to-revise-restrictive-definition| title = Pérez Art Museum Miami renames endowment fund for Black art to reflect the wider diaspora| date = 8 February 2021}}{{cite web| url = https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/sinwithout-portfolio-aqart-quake-115526| title = Sin/Without, from the portfolio AQ/Art Quake |publisher= Smithsonian American Art Museum}}{{cite web| url = http://dialoguesincubanart.org/miami-artists/juana-valdes/JUANA| title = VALDÉS}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Retrieved 21 February 2018. and the Pérez Art Museum Miami.{{Cite web |title=PAMM Announces Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM's Fund for African American Art • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/press/pamm-announces-polyphonic-celebrating-pamms-fund-for-african-american-art/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}

Her work has been favorably reviewed in journals such as Art in America,{{cite web| url = https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/william-cordova-on-juana-valdes-in-relational-undercurrents-at-molaa-63272/| title = William Cordova on Juana Valdes in "Relational Undercurrents" at MOLAA – ARTnews.com| date = 25 July 2017}}

Frieze,{{cite web| url = https://www.frieze.com/article/sitelines2016-new-perspectives-art-americas| title = SITElines.2016: New Perspectives on Art of the Americas {{!}} Frieze| date = 19 August 2016}} Latinx Spaces, Miami Herald,{{cite web| url = https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/article92622952.html| title = Reference at www.miamiherald.com| website = Miami Herald}}{{cite web| url = https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/visual-arts/article73909907.html| title = Reference at www.miamiherald.com| website = Miami Herald}} Berlin Art Link,{{cite web| url = https://www.berlinartlink.com/2016/07/19/nature-getting-down-to-earth-at-site-santa-fes-much-wider-than-a-line/| title = Nature // Getting Down to Earth at Site Santa Fe's 'much wider than a line' {{!}} Berlin Art Link| date = 19 July 2016}} Santa Fe New Mexican,{{cite web| url = https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/juana-valdes-the-color-of-clean/article_30a572b0-495b-5232-9008-f3f70de807c7.html| title = Juana Valdes: The color of clean {{!}} Art {{!}} santafenewmexican.com| date = 15 July 2016}} South Florida Sun-Sentinel,{{cite web| url = https://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/theater-and-arts/sf-north-miami-intersectionality-moca-museum-20160615-story.html| title = Artists confront 'Intersectionality' at MOCA |website= South Florida Sun-Sentinel| date = 15 June 2016 }} Newcity Art,{{cite web| url = https://art.newcity.com/2016/05/26/eye-exam-the-sun-is-bright-in-florida/| title = Eye Exam {{!}} Newcity Art| date = 26 May 2016}} El Nuevo Herald,{{cite web| url = https://www.elnuevoherald.com/vivir-mejor/artes-letras/article47773045.htmlhttps://www.elnuevoherald.com/vivir-mejor/artes-letras/article47773045.html| title = Reference at www.elnuevoherald.com}}{{Dead link|date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} The New Tropic.{{cite web| url = https://thenewtropic.com/women-art-basel/| title = Why it's so hard for women in the art world - The New Tropic| date = 2 December 2015}}

Valdés's work is also the subject of several scholarly publications including Bending Bone China: Juana Valdes’ Politics of the Skin by Josune Urbistondo (2015){{cite journal| url = https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/miradas/article/view/22432| title = Bending Bone China: Juana Valdes' Politics of the Skin {{!}} Miradas - Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der Amérikas und der iberischen Halbinsel| year = 2015| doi = 10.11588/mira.2015.0.22432| last1 = Urbistondo| first1 = Josune| journal = Miradas - Zeitschrift für Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der Amérikas und der Iberischen Halbinsel| volume = 2| pages = 56–67}} and Latinx Art: Artists/Markets/Politics by Arlene Dávila.{{cite web| url = https://www.dukeupress.edu/latinx-art| title = Reference at www.dukeupress.edu}}{{cite web| url = https://hyperallergic.com/574013/arlene-davila-latinx-art-duke/| title = How Latinx Artists Were Shut Out Of Art History| date = 18 August 2020}}

Juana Valdés has received several awards from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 1995,

the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Fund for the Arts grant in 2016,{{cite web|title=2016 NFA Grantees: Juana Valdes|url=http://www.nalac.org/2016-nfa-grantees/2016-artists/2016-artists-2/2090-juana-valdes|website=national association of latino arts and culture|access-date=10 December 2017|archive-date=10 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210071832/http://www.nalac.org/2016-nfa-grantees/2016-artists/2016-artists-2/2090-juana-valdes|url-status=dead}} the Pollock-Krasner Foundation,{{cite web| url = https://www.pkf-imagecollection.org/artist/Juana_Valdes/?list_url=%2Fartists%3Fsort%3DUZ%26page%3D1%26letter%3DV| title = Juana Valdes {{!}} Works {{!}} Pollock Krasner Image Collection}} Cuban Artist Fund,{{cite web| url = https://cubanartistsfund.org/visual-arts| title = Visual Arts — CUBAN ARTISTS FUND}} New York Foundation for the Arts, Netherland-America Foundation, Faculty Research Mentoring Program, Lifelong Learning Society, Oolite Arts Ellies Award,{{Cite web |title=The Ellies: Miami's Visual Arts Awards |url=https://oolitearts.org/ellies/ |access-date=2023-05-20 |website=Oolite Arts |language=en-US}}{{cite web| url = https://createmagazine.com/read/juana-valdes| title = Interview With Oolite Arts' 2018 Ellies Creator Juana Valdes — Create! Magazine| access-date = 2021-07-24| archive-date = 2021-07-24| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210724235251/https://createmagazine.com/read/juana-valdes| url-status = dead}}{{cite web| url = https://oolitearts.org/grant/juana-valdes/| title = Juana Valdes - Oolite Arts}} Joan Mitchell Foundation,{{cite web| url = https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/juana-valdes| title = Juana Valdes {{!}} Joan Mitchell Foundation| date = 12 December 2018}} and Anonymous Was A Woman Award,{{cite web| url = https://www.umass.edu/news/article/juana-valdés-wins-anonymous-was-woman| title = Juana Valdés Wins Anonymous Was A Woman Award for Significant Contributions in Art |publisher= UMass Amherst|date=30 November 2020}}{{cite web| url = https://www.artforum.com/news/anonymous-was-a-woman-names-2020-award-recipients-84444| title = Anonymous Was a Woman Names 2020 Award Recipients - Artforum International}} among others.

Her work can be found in many books including Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History,{{cite book| url = http://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/840| title = Women and Migration: Responses in Art and History - Open Book Publishers| year = 2019| publisher = Open Book Publishers| doi = 10.11647/obp.0153| isbn = 978-1-78374-565-4| s2cid = 159187937| editor-last1 = Willis| editor-last2 = Toscano| editor-last3 = Brooks Nelson| editor-first1 = Deborah| editor-first2 = Ellyn| editor-first3 = Kalia| doi-access = free}} Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago,{{cite web| url = https://www.dukeupress.edu/relational-undercurrents| title = Reference at www.dukeupress.edu}} Four Generations: The Joyner Giuffrida Collection of Abstract Art,{{cite web| url = http://www.wmagazine.com/story/pamela-joyner-is-rewriting-the-role-of-black-art| title = Pamela Joyner Is Rewriting the Role of Black Art| date = 10 November 2016}} Much Wider Than a Line,{{cite book| url = http://www.artbook.com/9780985660239.html| title = Much Wider Than a Line ARTBOOK {{!}} D.A.P. 2016 Catalog SITE Santa Fe Books Exhibition Catalogues 9780985660239}} and Multiplicity: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture.{{cite web| url = http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1031&context=anne_giangiulio| title = Reference at works.bepress.com}}

With Rest Ashore (2020){{cite web| url = https://locustprojects.org/exhibitions/main-gallery/rest-ashore.html| title = LOCUST PROJECTS}} at Locust Projects, Valdés incorporated video into her practice for the first time.{{cite web| url = https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/things-to-do-in-miami-juana-valdes-rest-ashore-at-locust-projects-11692678| title = Things to Do In Miami: Juana Valdes "Rest Ashore" at Locust Projects |website= Miami New Times}}{{cite web| url = https://creative-capital.org/on_our_radar/juana-valdes/| title = Juana Valdes |website= Creative Capital}} The multimedia installation at Locust Projects explores how the refugee crisis has been documented and disseminated in mass media throughout the years, both past and present.{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/457544326|title=REST_ ASHORE_h264_1929x1080_09_11_20|date=13 September 2020}}

The exhibition also featured Waves of Migration: a multimedia sculpture of CRT televisions facing opposite each other, each screen depicting different decades of Cuban migration—the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s—through archival footage to tell the story of each wave of migration. The project continues Valdés's thematic exploration of bodies of water, which have always played a significant role in her practice and the way she perceives and reimagines the Caribbean.{{cite web| url = https://www.latinxspaces.com/latinx-art/artist-juana-valdes-offers-refuge-in-rest-ashore| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210304200028/https://www.latinxspaces.com/latinx-art/artist-juana-valdes-offers-refuge-in-rest-ashore| url-status = usurped| archive-date = March 4, 2021| title = Latinx Spaces {{!}} Redefining Latinx Media – Artist Juana Valdes offers Refuge in 'Rest Ashore'| date = 4 March 2021}}

Throughout her career, Valdés has reexamined her personal experience of migration and how it relates to the current global refugee crisis.{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/video/latinx-voices-respond-moment-pbsforthearts-jgfgdw/| title = PBS For The Arts {{!}} Latinx Voices Respond to the Moment {{!}} PBS| website = PBS}}{{cite web| url = https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/things-to-do-in-miami-juana-valdes-rest-ashore-at-locust-projects-11692678| title = Things to Do In Miami: Juana Valdes "Rest Ashore" at Locust Projects |website= Miami New Times}} According to Valdés, “My recent work focuses on migration because I see it as one of the most significant issues of the 21st century. 79.5 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2019. I recently heard on the news that Venezuela would soon replace Syria with the largest number of displaced people. And it is not just countries in war or political conflict. The future will bring climate change refugees, as it already happened with hurricane Katrina.”{{Cite web|url=https://amlatina.contemporaryand.com/editorial/conversacion-juana-valdes|title=Finding One's Own Place on the Edge of the Edge}}

Terrestrial Bodies (2019) resulted from a multi-year process of collecting mass-produced collectible porcelain objects from around the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artburstmiami.com/visual_arts/review-freedom-towers-terrestrial-bodies-takes-on-mighty-task-in-a-deceptively-modest-way|title = Freedom Tower's 'Terrestrial Bodies' takes on mighty task in a deceptively modest way}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.fountainheadresidency.com/juanavaldes2minotti|title=Juana Valdes 2 Minotti|access-date=2021-08-01|archive-date=2021-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801175507/https://www.fountainheadresidency.com/juanavaldes2minotti|url-status=dead}} Working with the language of anthropology and archeology, Valdés demonstrates how the legacy of colonization is entrenched in institutions, social structures, and, most importantly, in objects.{{Cite web|url=https://projectrowhouses.org/past-artist-rounds/round-49?rq=valdes|title=Round 49}} A timeline of her mother's ancestry, compiled by the genetic testing service 23andMe, roots my family heritage at a crossroads between Africa, Asia, and the Americas, revealing how the ancestry of black and brown populations is inextricably linked to trade and globalization.{{Cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/things-to-do-in-miami-juana-valdes-terrestrial-bodies-at-freedom-tower-through-april-26-2020-11321990|title = Juana Valdes Explores 'Terrestrial Bodies' in New Exhibit at Freedom Tower|work=Miami New Times|date=28 November 2019}}

Valdés created The Colored Rag series by adding skin-toned powder pigments in the clay prior to firing, thereby manipulating its chemical composition and changing its color.{{Cite web|url=https://www.umass.edu/herterartgallery/event/juana-valdes-exhibition|title = The Colored Bone China : Herter Art Gallery : UMass Amherst}}{{Cite web|url=https://repeatingislands.com/2018/10/16/the-colored-bone-china-new-work-by-juana-valdes/|title = The Colored Bone China: New Work by Juana Valdés|website=Repeating Islands|date = 16 October 2018}} The intention is to question the mythology of whiteness as pure relative to notions of Mestizaje in the Caribbean, and link bodies to the physical constitution of bone china and its extraction and displacement as a raw material and commercial good. The Colored China Rags also create visual analogs between rags used by cleaning women, the suppleness of a woman's body, and the range of skin tones in ethnically mixed communities.{{cite web| url = https://www.santafenewmexican.com/pasatiempo/art/juana-valdes-the-color-of-clean/article_30a572b0-495b-5232-9008-f3f70de807c7.html| title = Juana Valdes: The color of clean {{!}} Art {{!}} santafenewmexican.com| date = 15 July 2016}} Subsequently, arranged, the work presents the myth of post-racial America as an increasingly far-fetched utopia.

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Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:School of Visual Arts alumni

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