Bronx Clay is on the Web!
Hello World!!
We are Bronx Clay! It’s been a long time of planning and organizing (through a whole pandemic!!), but we are finally here!
My name is Vanna Valdez and I am one half of Bronx Clay. Here’s a little bit about how and why I got here:
Freshman year of college I studied Ceramics as an elective at Syracuse University. Initially wanting to major in Advertising Design, I decided Ceramics was more fun! It was freeing and soothing to my soul. I loved every bit of it! I let my heart lead and when the time came to declare a major, I was standing in front of one of the heads of the department, David MacDonald. He was one of the only other people of color in the building. I felt welcomed and I signed up on the spot!
I graduated in 2009 during the Great Recession and although I was working as an intern for two artists that summer, I wasn’t getting paid. I was glad for the experience, but I needed to eat! I was literally starving. Not to mention Sallie Mae was knocking at my door and family and friends were telling me maybe I had made a mistake majoring in ceramics. The self doubt crept in and took hold. It kept me from even trying to start, and for 10 years I didn’t.
After overcoming a tremendous amount of self doubt, with the help of a few friends I leapt out and decided to give myself to the process. I started by giving back to the community. I created a series of free ceramic workshops for my neighborhood of the South Bronx, led by myself and other ceramic artists of color. We followed the workshops with public exhibitions of the participants’ work in local art spaces in the community. The goal was to have the community see themselves as the creators they are and see themselves and their work valued. It was a success! A team of 5 artists led 6 workshops to over 120 participants that summer and we held 2 public exhibitions showing off everyones work. Everyone loved it and wanted to know where our studio was, but we didn’t have one. The success of those workshops and the community’s desire for more is partially what has encouraged Alex and I to continue to build on that idea and create Bronx Clay.
This Spring we have organized another series of free ceramic workshops at Kelly Street Garden, and they’ve gotten off to a great start! We are looking forward to creating more of these workshops and continuing to work to build up our community!
Please help support this work by donating to our fundraising campaign and please share our campaign within your networks.
Did you know that 80% of the artists represented by NYC’s top 50 galleries are white, even though white people only make up 64% of the population? Only 8.8% of the artists represented are black and a meager 1.2% are Hispanic.
That’s a huge discrepancy! The arts is an 800 Billion dollar industry. There is money to be made and we deserve to be part of it!
Did you know that in The South Bronx there are schools that don’t even have an art program or art teacher? Many of our borough’s students aren’t given the opportunity to experience different forms of creating art, let alone ceramics. As a result these students often don’t pursue careers in the arts, even when they may have a talent for it. This impacts us all, leaving a void of diverse perspectives and fresh, new ideas.
We believe that art is essential and everyone should have access to it. When everyone is given the opportunity to contribute, new worlds become possible. We envision a world where diversity in the arts is fully realized, fostering growth and radical expansion for the field at large.
Thank you all for visiting our website and following us on our journey. Stay tuned for more!
Much Love,
Vanna
Subscribe to the Bronx Clay blog!
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.