ARMSTRONG, Valerie

1948 - ?

Valerie Anne Armstrong was born at Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire in 1948, daughter of Henry Denis Armstrong (18 March 1912-1990) and his wife Estelle Vivian Adams (21 June 1921-2006), eldest daughter of John Brittain Adams, who married at Stoke Parish Church, Stoke-on-Trent on 5 September 1946. Valerie studied at St Albans School of Art and studied textile design at Croydon College of Art & Design and, after graduating, spent a graduate year in Sweden working in the design studios of a ceramic factory, followed by four years in Paris where she studied mosaics at the École Des Beaux Arts and working for the Trianon Press, a publishing House specialising in producing facsimile editions of the works of William Blake and Samuel Palmer. Returning to the UK, Valerie took a Diploma in Art Therapy at St Albans School of Art and in 1976 began ten years working in art therapy posts including art teacher at HM Young Offender Institution at Warren Hill, Woodbridge, and instructor in further education at Otley College, both in Suffolk, finding time between posts for more travelling, including lengthy periods in Israel and Spain. She settled in Suffolk and returned to full-time painting and printing setting up her own business making painted folding screens on commission. In recent years, a fascination for experimental printmaking, collage, and mixed media has taken her in a new direction. Valerie is a member of Artworks East, the Ipswich Art Society and the Colchester Art Society and produces mixed media works interweaved with drawing, collage, and chine collé. She has a studio at Morden Villa, Melton Hill, Woodbridge, Suffolk from where she has exhibited at Snape Maltings Galleries; Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh; Halesworth Gallery at Steeple End, Halesworth; Colages y Kelims, Galeria La Rampa, Vejer de la Frontera, Cadiz, Spain; Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham; Aldeburgh Gallery, High Street, Aldeburgh, St Mary's Church Debenham, Suffolk Open Studios and Head Street Gallery, Halstead, Essex and elsewhere. Valerie married at Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1983, David Charles Wood.
Website http://www.valeriearmstrong.com

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Works by This Artist