Click on the link below to view a video from Valerie. Hear her talk about her classes and decorative painting. This video is best viewed with a high speed internet connection.

Click here to watch an interview with Valerie

Biography

Valerie’s has studied with well know artists such as Mary Jo Leisure, Priscilla Hauser, Pat Penniston, Jo Sonja Jansen, Zoltan Szaebo and many others.

Her studies have taken her throughout the US and Europe. Her studies in Europe have included working with Italy’s well known Trompe L’oeil artist Davide Cecelia, whose work is featured in Italian and American Architectural Digest Magazines.

Valerie was one of the founders of the Canadian Dog Wood Tole Society, she co-produced and co-starred in a 10 week television series on tole painting in the 1970′s with Shaw Cable.

She taught decorative arts at Langara College in Vancouver B.C. for 25 years. She founded the first decorative wall finishes course in all of western Canada.

Valerie designed and executed paint finishes (Trompe L’oeil and ceiling stencils) for the Marquise De LaBorde in Beaune France. The Chateau LaBorde was owned by Marquise De La Borde who was the finance minister to Louis XVI. (Marquise was the first to be beheaded in the French Revolution).

Valerie coordinated the first North American class to travel to Italy to study under Davide Cecelia.

Was asked to be the colour consultant and Trompe L’oeil designer for The Every Women’s Dream Home master bedroom. The home was donated to the B.C. Breast Cancer Research Foundation. (The bedroom was voted most favorite room).

She has various article written in The Vancouver Sun, Richmond Review, B.C. Homes and Western Living Magazine.

Over the years thousands of students have passed through Valerie’s Classes. She has entertained students from Canada the US, Europe and Asia. Some students have gone on to work in Vancouver’s booming film and television industry. Others have successfully pursed careers in interior design.