A former dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, in 1988 Val graduated with Honors from Emily Carr College of Art and Design, winning the prestigious Helen Pitt Award. For a number of years she was a dance videographer, after which she focussed her practise on painting. In 2003 she had her first solo painting exhibition and was a finalist in the Royal Bank Painting Competition. She is a grant recipient from the Canada Council and BC Arts Council, among others, and has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Centre, Malaspina Printmakers, and St George’s Senior School. She has been represented by Bau-Xi Gallery and Galerie de Bellefeuille, and her work has been published in Carte Blanche Volume II (Magenta Foundation), International Painting Annual 3 (Manifest Drawing and Research Centre), Capilano University Press, and Subterrain. Public institutions that have collected her work include Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Canada Council Art Bank, Surrey Art Gallery, and Vancouver General Hospital. Val’s work is collected enthusiastically in Canada, the US, Europe, UK, and Dubai. Val has taught painting and drawing at the Shadbolt Arts Centre, Gordon Smith Gallery, Vancouver Island School of Art, and her private art studio. She currently lives and works in Courtenay, BC.
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“…intellectually and artistically daring work…”
Gilbert Bouchard, Edmonton Journal
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“The highlight of the show… loose, intelligent brushwork…”
Christopher Brayshaw, The Georgia Straight
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“…she crafts the kind of post-photographic painting that does its best to make an eye dulled by electronic media vibrate anew. I am happy to say she is largely successful.”
Terence Dick, Akimbo
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“…an artist going places…”
Betty Ann Jordan, Canadian House and Home