Approved: 30.08.2011

Valerie Coffin Price

Artist, Maker

Approved: 30.08.2011

As a sculptor, walker and lettering artist working with issues to do with the environment, language and cultural identity, a sense of place is fundamental to my work. The poetic resonance of language and its connection to the environment drives my work, which explores ideas of mapping in relation to a sense of place, as well as an understanding of community and landscape. In recent projects

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    Artist Statement

    As a sculptor, walker and lettering artist working with issues to do with the environment, language and cultural identity, a sense of place is fundamental to my work. The poetic resonance of language and its connection to the environment drives my work, which explores ideas of mapping in relation to a sense of place, as well as an understanding of community and landscape. In recent projects I have been exploring ideas of mapping in relation to a sense of place, as well as an understanding of community and landscape, looking at the relationships between the human and natural, or man-made, environment. This involves the act of journeying itself. To journey is to explore and discover cultural traces embedded in the land. These traces include fragments of objects, memories, history and remnants of text and sound. It is these 'unseen paths' that connect us to nature, to the liminal, to the invisible world of currents, winds, ideas and language. I tend to work, in blocks of 5-10 years, towards an overall subject matter, existing within this overarching focus are a number of streams of inquiry, or practice. My current area of practice, Intimate Cartographies, involves research into internal and external human geographies, the use of language and their connection to an interior sense of self. The first stage of this work explores the poetic responses of various writers to the landscape and looks into the diversity of languages that we use to connect to our internal and external human geography. By exploring elements of cultural and national identity, my presence in the landscape acts as a link in an ongoing tradition where the artist bears witness to the history of the changing landscape.

    CV & Education

    Solo exhibitions 

    2020 - Berlin Water, StAnza Poetry Festival, Byre Theatre, St Andrews

    2015 - The River Next Door, Oriel y Bont, Pontypridd

    2015 - A Fold in the River, Booth Books, Hay-on-Wye

    2011 - Intimate Cartographies, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff

    2007 - Distant Voices, Newport Museum & Art Gallery, Newport

    2003 - Territoires, Centres des Migrations, Montmagny, Québec, Canada

    1996 - Vessels of Sound, Brecnock Museum, Brecon

    1995 - The Grave Stanzas, Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay

    1995 - The Grave Stanzas, Prema Arts Centre, Uley, Gloucestershire

    Group exhibitions

    2025 - Lines of Enquiry, Hardwick Gallery, University of Gloucestershire

    2024 - To & Fro, Lansdown Stores, Bath

    2024 - Field Walking, Corinium Museum, Cirencester

    2024 - Meeting of Minds, ArtCentral, Barry

    2023 - The Ground Beneath Our Feet, GroundWork Gallery, King's Lynn, Norfolk

    2023 - Sculpture Cymru, MOMA, Machynlleth, Wales

    2023 - Postcards for Perec, Waverley Library, Sydney, Australia

    2023 - Postcards for Perec, Special Collections Library, University of Essex, Colchester

    2023 - Letters to the Earth, Rogart Mart, Sutherland / New Glasgow Society, Glasgow

    2022-3 - Postcards for Perec, Special Collections Library, Cardiff University

    2022 - Thinking, Courtyard Gallery, Hereford

    2022 - The Outposted Project, Three Storeys Gallery, Nailsworth, Gloucesterhsire

    2022 - Postcards for Perec, Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, USA

    2022 - Postcards for Perec, Design & Architecture Festival, Istanbul, Turkey

    2022 - Postcards for Perec, The Street Gallery, Locksbrook Campus, Bath Spa University

    2022 - Paper Exchange, Zhejiang Art Museum, Hangzhou, China

    2021 - Printed Poetry Exhibition, Bower Ashton Library, UWE, Bristol

    2021 - 2021: Sculpture Cymru at 21, Aberystwyth Arts Centre

    2021 - Postcards for Perec, Bower Ashton Library, UWE, Bristol

    2021 - Postcards for Perec, Winchester School of Art Library

    2021 - The Outposted Project, online mapping exhibition https://twitter.com/outposted1

    2021 - Thinking, Aberystwyth Arts Centre | Courtyard Theatre, Hereford

    2020 - Butetown Artists, BayArt, Cardiff Bay

    2020 - Cartographic Imaginaries, Y Senedd, Cardiff Bay

    2019 - Ghost Mills, SVA, Stroud

    2019 - Line & Form, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff | ArtCentral, Barry

    2019 - Confluence, Museum in the Park, Stroud

    2019 - Cartographic Imaginaries, Oriel Davies, Newtown: National Library of Wales:  Swansea Museum

    2019 - Open Books, Art Central, Barry

    2019 - Paper Exchange, BayArt, Cardiff

    2018 - Fields of Vision, Boundary Art, Cardiff Bay

    2018 - Welsh Sculptors at Work, Bleddfa Arts Centre, Wales

    2017 - Library of Pilgrimages, Trowbridge Arts

    2017 - Open Books, Jaipur, India

    2016-17 - Place, NT Dyffryn Gardens, Wales

    2016 - Open Books, LAC Ottawa, Canada

    2014 - The Art of Walking, Museum in the Park, Stroud

    2013 - RiverMap, Museum in the Park, Stroud:  exhibition and seminar

    2013 - River-Water, Ruskin Mill, Gloucestersire 

    2013 - River-Water, The Exchange, Stroud

    2012 - Earth, Water, Wind, Sky, The Old Passage, Arlingham, Gloucestershire

    2012 - Shades of Grey, Craft in the Bay, Cardiff Bay

    2011 - Beyond the Comfort Zone, PhotoStroud, Ruskin Mill, Gloucestershire

    2011 - Flood, The Guildhall, Gloucester

    2011 - Poetry & Place, Ivor Gurney Conference, Churchdown, Gloucestershire

    2011 - WaterWay, The Old Passage, Arlingham, Gloucestershire

    2010-11 - The Moment Privacy Has Passed, Usher Gallery, Lincoln

    2006 - Distant Horizons, The Gate, Cardiff

    2006 - Residues, Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran

    2006 - Shadows, The Senedd, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff

    2005 - One World, Many Voices, Artworks Wales, Cardiff

    2004 - From There to Here, Swansea Museum, Swansea

    2003 - Presence & Absence, Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews:  touring Highlands & Islands

    2003 - Voyage Out, Dock Museum, Barrow-in-Furness

    2002 - Waterlines, Newport Museum & Art Gallery, Newport

    2000 - Sea Garden, The Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon Curated projects

    2003 - Presence & Absence, Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews

    Residencies

    2023 - The Ground Beneath our Feet, GroundWork Gallery, King's Lynn, Norfolk

    2023 - WeavingWater @ Yarun, international virtual collaborative project / Yarun, Australia

    2022 - Créations sur le Champ, Land Art Festival, Mont-St-Hilaire, Québec

    2021 - Open Books Go Digital, virtual collaborative project:  Wales & Malaysia

    2021 - The Meeting of the Waters, virtual collaborative project:  Belgium & Australia

    2019 - AiR, Hosking Houses, Warwickshire

    2017 - Creative Practitioner, Lead Creative Schools, Llanidloes

    2016 - Connected Studio, BBC-Nesta digital innovation project

    2007 - Community Art Project, Ty Dyfan, Barry, South Wales

    2005 - aa2a Residency, Hereford College of Art & Design, Hereford

    2005 - One World, Many Voices, Cywaith Cymru and Welsh Refugee Council, Cardiff

    2002 - Sculpture Residency, Est-Nord-Est, Sant Jean Port Joli, Québec, Canada

    1998 - Boréal Residency, Boréal Art/Nature, The Laurentians, Québec, Canada

    1997 - Public Art Project, SUSTRANS and Cywaith Cymru, Bangor - Caernarfon

    1995 - Public Art Project, Margam Sculpture Trust, Margam Sculpture Park, Margam Park

    1994 - National Eisteddfod Residency, National Eisteddfod, Neath Community Education, Neath

    1993 - Public Art Project, Gloucester City Council, Gloucester

    1992 - Public Art Project, Margam Sculpture Trust, Margam Sculpture Park, Margam Park

    Publications & Book Projects

    2021 - Troeon-Turnings, bilingual collaboration with Welsh language poet Cyril Jones and English language poet Philip Gross.  Published by Seren Books.

    2018 - A Part of the Main, a ‘conversation in poetry’ by Lesley Saunders & Philip Gross, published by Mulfran Press

    2017-19 - Digital Literary Atlas of Wales, Cardiff University Geography Department

    2015 - A Fold in the River, a collaborative book with poet Philip Gross, published by Seren Books, working in direct response to each other and the work as well as  alongside one another and the River Taff.

    2012-13 - Thinking Like a Wetland, a multi-disciplinary exploration of the wetland environment, with academics from Bristol, Cambridge and East Finland, for a special edition of the international and peer-reviewed Journal of Arts & Communities

    Talks, Walks and Conferences

    2022 - online talk for Space, Place, Practice research group

    2022 - online talk for Last Tuesday Cafe / Walking the Land 

    2021 - Seren Cardiff Poetry Festival, Cardiff: with poets Cyril Jones & Philip Gross

    2020 - StAnza International Poetry Festival, with poet Stephanie Green & sound artist Sonja Heyer

    2018 - Walk & Draw workshop, Get Creative Festival, BayArt, Cardiff

    2018 - Seren@Cornerstone Poetry Festival, Cardiff

    2017 - LAN annual conference, Alan Baxter Gallery, London

    2016 - Burnt Poetry conference, Cardiff University

    2015 - Poetry Wales, A Fold in the River

    2015 - Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, A Fold in the River

    2015 - University of Gloucestershire, New Numbers, New Approaches

    2014 - Philosophy Town, The Art of Walking

    2014 - Double Dialogues conference

    2013 - RiverMap conference

    2012 - CRASSH, Cambridge University, Climate Histories

    Grants

    2020 - Wales Art International travel grant

    2016 - Wales Art International travel grant

    2014 - The Art of Walking, Walking the Land production/expenses grant

    2013-4 - Arts Council of Wales:  River Next Door project

    2102 - Tipping Point bursary

    2004 - Arts Council of Wales:  Intimate Cartographies project 

    2003 - Wales Art International travel grant

    2002 - Wales Art International travel grant

    2002 - Est-Nord-Est, Canada:  residency grant

    1998 - Oppenheim Downs Award

    1998 - Arts Council of Wales

    1995 - Arts Council of Great Britain

    Public commissions

    2002 - Marker Stone for the Millenium, Sites of Meaning, Middleton by Youlgreave, Derbyshire

    2002 - Slate fence, Creu-ad, Countryside Council for Wales, Newborough Warren, Angelsey

    2001 - Tree of Life, Stoke-on-Trent Council, Staffordshire Partnership, North Staffordshire

    Health Trust, Sutherland Centre, Dresden, Stoke-on-Trent

    2000 - Millenium Project, Newport City Council, CDG, Park Square, Newport

    1998 - Shells, SUSTRANS, Cywaith Cymru, Y Felinheli, Gwynedd

    1998 - Stone Roses, SUSTRANS, Cywaith Cymru, Bangor University Botanical Gardens

    1997 - The Old Allotments, SUSTRANS, Cywaith Cymru, Gwynedd Council, Caernarfon, Gwynedd

    1995 - Public seats and table, Margam Sculpture Trust, Arts Care, Margam Park, South Wales

    1993 - Commemorative Plaque, Powys County Council, Royal Welsh Showground, Llanelwedd

    1992 - Font, Garden Festival Wales, Garden Festival Wales, Ebbw Vale

    1992 - Public seating, Gloucester City Council, Gloucester City Centre