THE WILD GARDEN OF CHILDHOOD Painting

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY Born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1948 into an army family, Valerie learned in her early years how to be an adventurous traveller. After graduating from Croydon College of Art with a degree in textiles, Valerie went on to spend a graduate year in Sweden working in the design studios of a ceramic factory. Following this, she moved to Paris for four years to paint, and to work for a publishing House specialising in facsimiles of William Blake. In 1976, she returned to the UK to take a post graduate qualification as an art therapist, Valerie then began twelve years working in art therapy posts in phsychiatric institutions and schools in Cambridge and London. On moving to Suffolk, Valerie set up her own business making painted folding screens to commission.In the past years, a fascination for experimental printmaking, collage, and mixed media has taken her in a new direction, to a more narrative and oblique way of working.Valerie is a member of the Suffolk Crafts Society, the Sudbourne Printmakers Group and Artworks.My most recent collection of work takes a humorous and affectionate look at the language of interaction, glimpsed encounters, and vulnerability. "Several years ago I trained and practiced as an art therapist in mental health. I believe that this experience plus images which flow from a vivid dream world influence and affect my work. On this framework I aim to weave visual stories which sometimes touch the absurd, or reach out to the darker side; exploring thought shadows that lurk deep within the mind to emerge in dreams".