litchfield kitchen bath

Fine Art Gallery

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Self Portrait (click to enlarge)
Valerie earned a B.A. in fine art from Hornsey College of Arts, in England, and another B.A. in Graphic Design from the Basel School of Art & Design (the Kunstgewerbeschule ) in Switzerland.
On her return to England she was invited to work as an artists assistant and lithographic edition printer with an international fine arts publishing house, Petersburg Press.
Throughout the next eight years she enjoyed working with major artists such as Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, and Dieter Roth. It was a project with Frank Stella in 1973 that first brought her to the US, where she lives today.
She quit edition printing before the birth of her daughter Sam and, almost by accident, became a toy designer and inventor.
During these years Valerie became fascinated by the power that an 11 1/2 pink, plastic plaything (Barbie) has exerted over generations of little American girls, how deeply this doll and her very questionable values have penetrated our society. In fact how Barbie has become an American icon, just as surely as Marilyn, Lady Liberty, and the Stars and Stripes.
With the onset of the gulf war, (1991) she found the need to return to creating her own artistic statements. Her time in the toy industry had its influence on this work. Both Barbie and the universal toy soldier have become basic media for her pieces.
Valerie's latest artworks combine common American and religious icons with children's toys and other ubiquitous elements in assemblages designed to evoke conflicting messages.


Valerie's work ( 6000 Pieces) was featured on the front page of the Arts and Leisure section of the New York Times in Jan 2009

Valerie has shown at
Argazzi Gallery in Lakeville CT.
Gunn Museum in Washington CT.
The Pen and Brush in Manhattan NYC.
(where Morley Safer of '60 Minutes' fame, awarded her First Prize in the national exhibition curated by Mr. Safer called 'In The News')
Washington Art Association CT.
Katona Musum of Art. NY.
where Nan Rosenthal awarded her Second Prize in another national exhibition called 'Contemporary Conflict'. (Nan Rosenthal was senior curator of Contemporary Art at the Metropolitain Museum of Art. NYC. She curated and judged the show.)


This site is still under construction. Many more to come.
For more information email Valerie Leonard at - valerieleonard@sbcglobal.net - Please reference "Web Site" in subject bar

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All American Girls
All American Girls #1
Baby Flag
Flag Waving
All American Girls
Mixed media 21"x27"
All American Girls #1
All American Girls #1 Jimmy D's Barbie Dolls
Baby Flag
American Flag made of tiny plastic babies
Flag Waving
Flag Waving
Golden War
Lies Beneath
Little Black Book
Read My Hips
Golden War
Mixed media assembage with gold leaf and toys.
Lies Beneath
Assemblage Mixed Media
Little Black Book
Assemblage
Read My Hips
assemblage
Six Thousand Parts
Six Thousand parts (detail)
Some Of The Parts
TEXACO
Six Thousand Parts
American Flag made from 6000 toy soldiers
Six Thousand parts (detail)
American Flag made from 6000 toy soldiers
Some Of The Parts
Assemlage with toy soldiers
TEXACO
Hundreds of 3/4 inch soldiers.
Waiting For Santa
World War
World War (detail)
Waiting For Santa
Assemblage
World War
World War/melted toy soldiers
World War (detail)
globe formed from melted toy soldiers

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For more information email Valerie Leonard at - valerieleonard@sbcglobal.net - Please reference "Web Site" in subject bar