Valentina Cojocaru

My first childhood memory of art is...

Art classes in primary school having a wonderful art teacher who taught the first steps in creating art. I remember my painting experiences as a child and I must say I used to play with colours and paints, creating beautiful artworks, and the joy I had when I got a new set of paints or coloring pencils was immense! I never had or used a canvas as child but I would use any paper I could get my hands on, even if it wasn’t meant for art.

An art experience I loved...

Visiting the Royal Academy of Art. It was a great experience for me as I learned about the chance I would have for my future career. Talking to artists there, watching them in the process of creating art, learning about the Academy, had a great impact in future prospects. I was quite impressed by the studio spaces and the endless possibilities an artists can have by studying there.

The last art fair I visited was...

The art auction at UEL where one of my artworks was sold and the money went to charity. It was a great experience seeing all the artworks together and meeting the artists and the art collectors was amazing. I was really excited to see that someone else liked my artwork so much that decided to purchase it. The atmosphere was amazing despite of the swarm of people trying to bid for the artwork, which made me feel a bit claustrophobic.

To me, art is...

A way of expressing myself without words but also therapeutic. I started creating art during Covid 19 pandemic to keep my mind off stressful situations and to express my inner thoughts. In art everything is possible, there are no limitations to where imagination can take you. Making flames out of stone or waterfalls out of fabric, bringing a piece of art to life and challenging the limits of a material are just a few of the possibilities art can create.