Shalene Valenzuela

I create ceramic sculptures that reflect on a range of social and cultural issues through a thoughtful, often humorous and ironic lens. I reproduce everyday objects primarily through slip casting and activate their surfaces with hand-painted imagery. Through these works, I explore themes of feminism, impossible beauty standards, consumerism, politics, environmental concerns, and the broader whitewashing of American culture and lived experience.

I employ trompe l’oeil techniques not only to visually deceive the viewer, but to draw them more deeply into the narratives embedded within the work. By reinventing familiar objects in clay, I play with the notion that things are not what they initially appear to be. Materials behave against expectation. What should be soft becomes rigid while what should be heavy and indestructible becomes fragile and precious. Though the referenced object remains recognizable, the illustrated surface complicates its meaning, layering critique and storytelling onto the form itself.

Shalene Valenzuela was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She received a BA in Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley and an MFA in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts. Shalene has participated in artist residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation (2006), Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts (2004, 2011), The Clay Studio of Missoula (2007-09), the LH Project (2016), and Red Lodge Clay Center (2024). She has taught at Flathead Valley Community College, University of Montana, Oregon College of Art and Craft, The Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula Art Museum, Richmond Art Center, ASUC Studios at UC Berkeley, and CCA Extended Education. Shalene has been a guest artist and speaker at a number of art centers, colleges, and universities. Her work has been featured in several group and solo exhibitions and is in several private and public collections. She currently maintains an active studio practice at her home and is the executive director at The Clay Studio of Missoula.