We opened the exhibition on Saturday 15th April to a large crowd. Friends family and art lovers alike, enjoyed wonderful food and a glass of wine and commemorated the life of this extraordinary artist in the best way possible; by acknowledging her prodigious talent  and in many cases taking the opportunity to purchase her work for the last time. Here is a tidied up version … Continue reading Opening Speech
After fleeing Burma as a child during the war, living in India, migrating to Australia and settling in Perth, Valerie married a farmer and moved to the western Australian wheat belt. During that period, which was at times difficult – due to being far from her family and being knee deep in small children, she worked a lot in pastels. These were easy to work on and … Continue reading Wheat belt
Valerie often used an illustrative style to produce works that were inspired by stories; particularly bible stories but also episodes from her own life. During a joint exhibition with family members she was encouraged to illustrate an influential childhood trek, fleeing from bombings in Burma through the foothills of the Himalayas into India accompanied by elephants. She remained deeply fond of elephants all her life and … Continue reading Stories
From the time of her early Commercial Art studies, Valerie demonstrated a strong graphic style. This was evident throughout her career but particularly so in the early 2000’s when she developed a series of stylised geometric landscapes which took a God’s eye view of the world – encompassing both aerial and horizontal  elevations in the same picture plane.  Many of these pieces won her prizes and … Continue reading Graphics
It is always fascinating to see the preliminary working drawings and sketches that an artist produces. As part of the retrospective exhibition we are making available many of Valerie’s drawings and sketches. These works, displayed in folios and some individual frames, can be purchased  with the smallest starting from $40.00. Continue reading Drawings and Sketches
There are two documented occasions where Valerie ventured into pure sculpture. Both were done with the welding and metal bending knowledge of her husband Hugh. One, done in the early 1960’s, resides still at her brother’s house and the other in 2009 was the category winner at the Kondinin Art Prize. Beyond these two, Valerie took her interest in wood carving to its logical conclusion by … Continue reading 3D
Valerie and her craftsman husband, Hugh, formed a symbiotic team very early on with much of her textile work existing alongside his launch into spinning wheel production as she often used handspun fibres in her pieces. By the 1990’s, however, after Hugh had ventured into her territory by taking up rug weaving, she retaliated by playing with wood. Still predominantly interested in picture making she used … Continue reading Interchange
Not only did Valerie move from free form wall hangings to framed textile pictures but she also started to play with very controlled semi sculptural, almost bas-relief, pieces. Many of these works included metal, such as copper and brass, as well as steel shaped under instruction by her husband Hugh. Here we see “Tribal Woman” an early wall hanging from the seventies, followed by a … Continue reading More evolutions
From the time Valerie left the wheat belt of WA and moved back to Perth with her family in the early 1970’s, she began experimenting with textiles. She was very successful with her large free form sculptural wall hangings but by the 1980’s she had moved back to picture making – although continuing to play with fibres. Using a combination of knotting, weaving, appliqué and embroidery she … Continue reading Evolution
A big part of putting on a retrospective exhibition is getting the works, some decades old, clean and ready to show.  The textile pieces, particularly those not framed under glass, need vacuuming and a few hidden stitches and some of the framed works need mounts cleaned and scratches removed. Continue reading Restoration
Valerie McDonald Retrospective 