Artist Spotlight: Valerie Michael

Being a middle school teacher is not for the faint of heart, especially as an art teacher. But Valerie Michael found it, not only to be a perfect fit, but inspiring. She was a teacher for 28 years and says about her experience, “Middle school students often have a restless curiosity and a kind of roller coaster energy which suited me. Things always felt in flux and at its best my students and I learned from each other.

I hope that my students took away from my classes techniques for looking at and making artwork, taking time to engage, analyze, interpret, develop a visual language and discover their own voices through making art and discussion … learning how Art connects us to our own humanity.

I think my students taught me to suspend judgement, listen and not make assumptions. I enjoyed their “out-of-the-box” ideas and ways of problem-solving, and of seeing the world.”

Valerie’s paintings pop with rich color and rhythms. When you look at her work, you can almost feel the beat or hear the music. She uses acrylics, collage and mixed media to create abstacts, and representational or observational work inspired by nature, travel, myths, walking and observing and “words of importance.” She especially appreciates this quote from British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, “Poetry is the music of being human.” She says, “I think this applies to visual art and that in my abstract work I am trying to grasp some poetry through the use of visual elements and principles.”

As a young child in Oxford, England, Valerie loved to make “messy, sloshy watercolors” but by the time she got to high school she became more interested in precision. In science classes she would make detailed botanical drawings and was drawn to medical and botanical illustration.

Encouraged by her high school teacher she began painting a lot and spending many hours in the high school art studio and taking life drawing classes at a local college. Her parents were also encouraging as both were creative and gifted in craft making. Her father was a pilot, but his passions were carpentry and gardening while her mom was a wonderful seamstress making beautiful clothing and dolls.

Following high school, she took a foundation course at Kingston School of Art outside London. Designed as an “overview” class she spent time in London museums, especially the Science Museum and Victoria and Albert, drawing from many kinds of artifacts, particularly skeletons. She then did a three-year degree course in Graphic design and Illustration at Newport College of Art on the border between Wales and England. Born to Welsh parents, she also enjoyed immersing herself in her Welsh ancestry while there.

She discovered her love of the classroom (and its challenges) when she began working in Birmingham at an inner-city school after taking a one-year post graduate degree in art teaching.

Marriage brought Valerie Cleveland ,Ohio for a one-year adventure and she notes with surprise “here I am fifty years later!” She raised two daughters, got a masters in Synaesthetic Education from Syracuse University, became a US citizen and eventually got back to teaching Middle School in upstate New York. Now she enjoys her life in Maine spending time with her daughters, hiking, reading, walking, gardening, yoga and, of course, tai chi! Valerie is a Tai Chi instructor (check the weekly schedule) at the EAC.

Valerie is a member-artist of Eastport Gallery and will be highlighted in a show along with Lysa Intrator entitled “Juxtaposition and Friendship.” It runs from July 26 through August 8.

You can see more of Valerie’s work as well as other Eastport Gallery member-artists’ work online at eastportgallery.com. And here are more Artist Spotlights to enjoy.