About

 

Valerie realized her affinity for art early in life, and after years of life drawing at The Artist’s Workshop in Toronto, she pursued her passion at the Rhode Island School of Design and then at York University, where she earned her BFA. This was followed by a teaching degree from the University of Toronto. While working as an art teacher in a Toronto high school, she took continuing classes at the Ontario College of Art and spent her free time on her own work.

During her teaching years, Valerie also regularly took off semesters to continue developing her own work. After a rewarding career, she retired from teaching and is now a full time artist.

Her interest in people, which began with life drawing, was enriched by working with young people from all over the world. The diverse mix of students developed her appreciation for how our culture shapes us. This led to a series of large mixed materials portraits of women from various ethnic backgrounds. Since then, this interest has developed into an examination of the larger context in which we live, which necessarily includes social issues.

A visit to China stimulated an exploration of traditional Chinese landscape painting. In her more recent work, she has married this traditional style with Pop and Realist influences in western art, resulting in a west-meets-east series. These works describe people within the context of culture/social issues, such as migrant workers and the economic pyramid.

She has also begun another series about how we need to pay attention to the small moments of joy we tend to be too busy to notice. We need to “Consider a moment.”

People are also the focus of her Commuting Life - Relief clay sculptures of the mix of individuals on the subway. Valerie aims to create beauty in her work, but also gives the viewer something to feel and think about. It is highly detailed and frequently involves the use of mixed materials.