{"person":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"3063"},"lastName":{"label":"Last Name","value":"Valentine"},"endDate":{"label":"Death Date","value":"0"},"displayName":{"label":"Name","value":"Monica Valentine"},"objects":{"label":"Objects","value":{"objectTitle":"MV 129","objectNumber":"2023.8.1","objectID":"8812"}},"geographyDied":{"label":"Died","value":["Oakland","San Mateo"]},"biography":{"label":"Biography","value":"Monica Valentine\u2019s dazzling art expresses her sensitivity to and passion for color. She covers foam forms from top to bottom with hundreds of seed beads and sequins stacked on thin sewing pins, giving a tactile texture to mannequin heads, skulls, cakes, and geometric shapes such as cubes and spheres. They are so encrusted with the iridescent layers of beads that the original foam bases are barely visible. Some are monochromatic, as Valentine is particularly interested in the radiance of red; others are layered with a rainbow of hues, so that the colors shift depending on the viewer\u2019s perspective. She works rhythmically by touch, choosing the colors intuitively, as she has been blind since birth. Valentine was born, the fourth of eight children, in 1955 in San Mateo, California. Complications from her premature birth led to her loss of vision. Yet from a young age, she was fascinated with color and light. She has stated that she is sensitive to the temperature of different colors, recognizing their \u201cfeel\u201d in an experience akin to synesthesia. The heat of red, the warmth of white and yellow, and the coolness of blue and green are all distinct. In 2012, she became a member of the Creative Growth Art Center, a nonprofit that provides studio and gallery space to artists with disabilities in Oakland, California. Although when she first joined she was making rugs and then experimented with drawing and wood sculpture, she eventually discovered beadwork as her preferred medium. As she has progressed as an artist over her years at Creative Growth, she has also engaged in weaving on a loom. As with her beaded sculptures, she usually works with colors such as red, orange, blue, and green. Some weavings are presented as hanging tapestries, and others as wearable works of art.Since 2013, Valentine has regularly exhibited her work through Creative Growth. Her international presentations include Art Osaka in Japan, and she has frequently participated in the Outsider Art Fair in New York, with her art featured in the 2021 <em>Super-Rough<\/em> display curated by Takashi Murakami.Allison C. Meier, 2025Text written as part of \u201cRethinking Biography,\u201d an initiative supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)."},"geographyActive":{"label":"Active","value":["Oakland","San Mateo"]},"geographyBorn":{"label":"Born","value":["Oakland","San Mateo"]},"beginDate":{"label":"Birth Date","value":"1955"},"firstName":{"label":"First Name","value":"Monica"},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/26806/full"},"names":{"label":"Names","value":"Monica Valentine"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"(b. 1955)"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"151685"}}]}