BIOGRAPHY

Val Nelson is a Vancouver-based multi-disciplinary artist whose career spans more than thirty years. Her practice integrates painting, drawing, video, and performance in a distinctive fusion of disciplines.

Nelson’s work engages themes of image and human experience through a deeply embodied and process-oriented artistic practice.

Val graduated with Honours in Media Arts from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in 1988, launching a dynamic career marked by solo and group exhibitions across Canada and being shortlisted for the Royal Bank Painting Prize.

Her solo exhibitions include notable shows such as Phantom DNA (2022) at Visual Space Gallery in Vancouver, Being There (2014) and Bilder/Pictures (2013) at Bau-Xi Gallery (Vancouver and Toronto), and The Happy Place (2012) at Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal. 

A recognized presence in Canadian contemporary art, Nelson’s works are held in collections such as the Canada Council Art Bank, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Surrey Art Gallery, and private collections in Canada, the US, the UK, and Dubai.

Nelson has received numerous grants and awards, including the Canada Council Travel Grant (2011), Artist Grant from Vermont Studio Center (2011), finalist in the New Canadian Painting Competition (2003).

In addition to her artistic output, Val Nelson is an experienced instructor dedicated to mentoring emerging artists. Since 2009, she has taught painting both in-person and online, and contributed as a guest instructor at institutions including Gordon Smith Gallery, North Island College, Vancouver Island School of Art, and Emily Carr University; she has also led a painting retreat in Tuscany.

Her work has been highlighted in arts media, with features in Vancouver Sun, Dance International Magazine, and CBC radio. A 2018 video documentary by Vancouver Review Media, Val Nelson – A Self-Portrait, offers further insight into her creative process.

Val Nelson continues to live and work in Vancouver, actively exhibiting, teaching, and contributing to the contemporary Canadian art dialogue.