Val Cunningham
Maker Monday - April 2026
About the Artist
Name: Val Cunningham
Medium: pottery
SCAA Member since: 2014
Based in: East Greenwich, RI
Click an image to view portfolio slideshow
In honor of Earthworks and all things pottery, this month we’re featuring ceramic artist Val Cunningham. Val has received numerous awards for her functional sculptural pieces, including 5 awards here at SCAA as well as one from the Artists Cooperative Gallery of Westerly. She has been involved with SCAA as a student, exhibitor, and member for more than 10 years.
In her professional life, Val worked as an Advertising Director, a business news editor, and editor-in-chief of an entire division. These days, she is enjoying being mostly retired, working one day a week as a medical news editor, and spending her free time in our pottery studio creating inspiring works of ceramic art. - SCAA
Where are you from, and what do you make?
I’m originally from Ridgewood, NJ, but I fell in love with New England when I went to college in Vermont, and never went back. I moved to Boston, then down to Rhode Island, where I’ve lived for the last 32 years. I work with ceramics; right now being most interested in boxes and vases with hand-built elements like small sculptures.
How long have you been seriously pursuing art?
I’ve always been interested in art and worked for years in advertising, but my interest in ceramics came when my youngest son had to do a pass/fail senior project in high school. He’d already been accepted to college, but was planning a science-heavy project anyway, one that he wasn’t really excited about. When I suggested he do something more fun, he told me of his interest in learning to throw pots. I found an introductory class with a potter who kindly agreed to mentor him in and out of class. I signed up for the class too, because, well, how many things do you really get to do with your 17 year old son? He passed with flying colors and went off to college, and I just stayed interested in ceramics.
What inspires you to create?
I find inspiration in other artists, particularly when they produce something unexpected, or expressive in a way that wouldn’t have occurred to me. There’s so many different ways of seeing things. Sometimes it’s more mysterious—I’ll create something and not fully realize my connection to it until it’s finished. I think that’s a really hard question!
Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your art? What do they do, and in what way do they influence you?
My mother worked for Mobil Oil by day, but was a painter in her off time. Though I only knew her the first nine years of my life, I remember her paintings very clearly. She was very talented and absolutely fearless as an artist. I remember one day she set up a small canvas for me to paint beside her for the first time. I was thoroughly intimidated. She finally asked why I wasn’t painting, and I told her I didn’t think I could do anything nearly as good as what she was doing. She just smiled and told me not to take myself so seriously. I didn’t fully understand then, but those words come back to me any time I get an idea and am tempted to dismiss it because I think I can’t do it. I’m reminded that nothing terrible will happen if I fail, and I’ll probably still learn something by trying.
Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
I went to see Michelangelo’s statue of David in Florence, Italy. The photos I’d seen didn’t prepare me for the size and sheer impact of the work itself. Lining the corridor were blocks of marble with unfinished figures partially emerging. Michelangelo had apparently said that the figures he sculpted were already in the marble, and he was just clearing away the debris. Even David had been cut from a rejected, abandoned block. It made me think that there is the potential for art in everything, and sometimes we can intuitively see it. It makes me look twice at natural forms and appreciate the artists who can capture what they see.
As a member of SCAA, what do you like most about us?
I love the SCAA for its community, and that includes the fabulous teachers and staff. There’s so much to learn, so much encouragement, so many amazing artists that you can’t help but be inspired to create on your own. It’s just a great bunch of people. I feel very lucky to be a part of it.
Tell us a joke.
What did 0 say to 8?
“Nice belt.”