Valerie Linhart

As a book artist and sculptural artist, Valerie’s work is influenced by narrative, the urge to tell a story through words, senses and materials. Her work reflects upon relationships, whether it is about cultural identities, socio-economic politics, or environmental conditions and is viewed through the lens of her own identities as a Czech-Haitian-Dominican-American woman, educator and artist. Her work aims to bring often overwhelming global issues down to a personal level, in efforts to understand the stories of her community and the world. This leads to her use of everyday objects in her art, often ones that are discarded or unnoticed. By repurposing these materials, she expands the notion of an item’s usefulness. These objects highlight a larger web of social ills as illustrated in her in piece Diamonds for Sale, juxtaposing commercial logos that declare fulfillment only through buying a Tiffany diamond, alongside text recounting the continuing genocides and famine. She chooses structure and material that transform a reader’s expectation of a book, offering alternative versions of storytelling. Instead of pages and words, a reader may find shredded junk mail or a musical note. Her experiences with making art accessible to people inspires her to reach beyond the gallery, to affect and be affected by the community in which the work is made.