“Visions of Nature” landscape paintings by Curry County artist, Valerie Tucker, are featured in the Coastal Oregon Visual Artist Showcase on the second floor of the Newport Visual Arts Center. The exhibition includes a video about the artist.
The exhibit continues through July 5, 2014. Showcase hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 12:00pm to 4:00pm.
Originally from Illinois, Valerie Tucker has spent most of her life on the west coast. Her father was a horticulturist, so she grew up surrounded by all things plant and garden related. Valerie’s love of art began at an early age. Her great aunt was an art teacher who encouraged and nurtured Valerie by providing art supplies at every opportunity. Early projects included creating illustrations for her father’s horticultural pamphlets. During her formal art training at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Valerie studied with Ciel Bergman and received a B.A. degree in Fine Arts. She also pursued graduate studies in Painting at San Jose State University as well as Printmaking courses at Pratt Art Institute in Seattle, Washington.
Valerie’s parents encouraged her artistic growth, however they also fretted that she should pursue more “practical” subjects in order to support herself. Thankfully, Valerie excels at both artistic and analytical activities. She worked at Hewlett-Packard Company for ten years, and launched her own desktop publishing business. After a brief stint at the PR firm for Microsoft, she switched gears and entered the video game development industry, working her way up from the bottom to eventually snag a position as Producer for projects at Cavedog Entertainment, Humongous Entertainment and Amaze Entertainment.
Over the years Valerie has explored various artistic themes, but landscape painting is her first love. She finds nature to be a never-ending source of inspiration and delight. Whereas the word landscape often refers to wide panoramic views, Valerie’s desire is to create “intimate” landscapes that draw the viewer in, focusing on the spiritual connection that we can experience with nature.
Her work has been exhibited in both group and solo shows, primarily in California, Washington and Oregon and is included in private collections nationwide. Most recently, she has shown at the Gallery of Arts and Culture in Crescent City, Truffles in Bandon, and will be the featured artist at the Manley Art Center in November.
The Coastal Oregon Visual Artists Showcase, featuring mid-career artists who live in the seven Oregon coastal counties, is located on the second floor of the Newport Visual Arts Center, 777 NW Beach Drive on the Nye Beach Turnaround. Exhibits are sponsored by Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA). OCCA brings high quality arts experiences to the coast. For more information, see the VAC events at www.coastarts.org, call Sally Houck, OCCA Director/VAC at 541-265-6569 , or email vac@coastarts.org.