Rate My Professor Valerie Zimany

Valerie Zimany serves as Professor of Art, Ceramics and Chair of the Department of Art at Clemson University, joining the faculty in 2010 within the College of Architecture, Art and Construction. She progressed through the ranks from Assistant Professor (2010-2016) to Associate Professor (2016-2021), attaining full professorship in 2021, and assumed the role of interim chair in 2017 before her permanent appointment. Before Clemson, she instructed in ceramics and foundations at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, ceramics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her academic journey includes a BFA in Crafts/Ceramics, magna cum laude, from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia (1995); a post-baccalaureate Fulbright Fellowship at Kanazawa College of Art (1996-1997); a Japanese Language Certificate from Kanazawa University (1999); and an MFA in Crafts/Ceramics from Kanazawa College of Art (2002), earned as a Fulbright Fellow and Japanese Government Monbusho Scholar. Post-MFA, she undertook a three-year residency at the Utatsuyama Craft Workshop in Kanazawa, Japan, investigating contemporary craft and Kutani overglaze enamels, and returned in 2011 as a guest researcher via a Fulbright-Hays grant.

Zimany's scholarly pursuits center on contemporary Japanese art, cultural intersections in 18th- and 19th-century export ceramics, and digital fabrication techniques for historic enamel patterns. An acclaimed artist, her ceramics feature in prestigious collections worldwide, including the Taipei Yingge Ceramic Museum (Taiwan), American Museum of Ceramic Art (Pomona, CA), World Ceramic Museum (Icheon, Korea), and Slovenia National Museum (Metelkova). Notable honors encompass election to the International Academy of Ceramics (2021), South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in Craft (2020), Clemson’s University Research and Artistic Achievement Award (2019), Antinori Distinguished Fellowship at Hambidge Center (2018), Award of Excellence at the Cluj International Ceramics Biennale (2015), and Grand Prize at Medalta International Artists in Residence (2015). Her work appears in publications such as Ceramics Monthly’s feature “Valerie Zimany: Recasting the Japanese Tradition” (2008), Ceramics Art and Perception, and Lark Books’ 500 Ceramic Sculptures and 500 Prints on Clay. Zimany has curated significant exhibitions, including NCECA shows and “Porcelain Fever: Contemporary Artists and Kutani Now” in Japan (2012), alongside residencies at Archie Bray, Penland, and others, fostering international dialogue in ceramics.