THORESBY, Valerie Cecilia

1941 - ?

As Valerie Cecilia Vyvyan, she was born at Blyth, Suffolk on 3 February 1941, second of the two daughters of Henry O'Donnell Vyvyan, O.B.E. (28 March 1910-2 March 1998), an army officer, and his wife Frances E. Joan née Humphries (25 June 1913-1 November 2003), who married at Kensington, London on 25 June 1936. Valerie married secondly in 1979 Henry Fielding Thoresby, and she paints under the name of Valerie C. Thoresby, by her first husband, David Henry La Cagnina whom she married in 1966, she had two sons. Valerie was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and St Martin's School of Art 1982-1984. A painter in acrylic, oil, watercolour, drawing and mixed media, being inspired by the Kent coast and that of Cornwall and Northern France. She spent some time in the USA where she taught life drawing, based on the teachings of the visionary painter Cecil Collins (1908-1989). Valerie has exhibited widely including at Will's Art Warehouse, London; Royal College of Art; New Grafton Gallery, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition; Art League of Daytona, USA; Jacksonville Watercolour Society and elsewhere. She has her studio at 6 Granville Road, Walmer, Kent, and her paintings are in various corporate collections including Merrill Lynch Florida; De Beers London; Saatchi and Saatchi, Belgium and the Royal Museum, Canterbury.




Works by This Artist