Valentine Svihalek talked about embracing her creativity and shifting in her career as she moved physically and emotionally through life. I love how she dove into being an artist and then working with fellow artists, especially mothers, to bring out their creative voices.
Valentine Svihalek is a Belgian and American contemporary visual artist, international educator, and mother. Living and teaching in diverse communities around the world, she cultivated a desire for discovery and development. After the birth of her first child in a village surrounded by people who spoke a different language, she felt isolated. Turning inward, she developed a process of artmaking that liberates expressive energy and establishes connection. She engaged in the Artist Residency In Motherhood program. This experience, combined with graduate studies in philosophy and postgraduate studies in teaching, literacy, and culture in San Diego served as the foundation for further exploration.
Valentine founded the Mama Create collective, a community that facilitated opportunities for English speaking creatives in the Czech Republic. Inspired by her community work, she published The Imperfect Artist Mother Journey as a reflection on postpartum experience. Her European network merged with the global collective Art Mums United where she serves as co-director. Valentine has exhibited her work in galleries in Europe and with the Jewish Museum Prague. She is co-host of the Art Mums United Podcast and is a member of a variety of directories and artist organizations such as Spilt Milk Gallery, The Art Queens Society, Create Magazine, Artist-Mother Network, and ARIM.
Links:
- bellavalentina.art
- @bellavalentinaart on Instagram
- Art Mums United
- Karel Appel: Dutch artist
- Isadora Stowe
- Ellen Burgin
- Radiolab Episode: Everybody’s Got One (about placenta)
- Margaret Wertheim: crochet coral reef
