|
|
|||||
 |
|
||||
|
|
Valerie Connelly
Born, raised and a resident of northern Illinois near Chicago for most of her life, Valerie Connelly retired from teaching French Literature in 2005 and now lives in Cookeville, Tennessee. Valerie owns a successful publishing business, is a radio talk show host, and continues to paint, compose music and spend time with family. In the mid-90’s she opened BlockArt Prints, Inc. where she designed custom cards in the medieval tradition of hand-carved images. Clients included the Peace Corps, Lincoln Park Zoo and Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, and many small and medium-sized businesses in the Chicago area. She also patented the Glowbox, a lighted box with interchangeable imagery from the BlockArt Prints collection. A STRANGER IN THE WILDERNESS In 1999, she returned to painting, and while living in Wisconsin, Valerie’s life-long passion for painting led her to become an active Member of the Cedarburg, Wisconsin Artists Guild. In October 2007, she opened a studio in the Studio Artists Gallery and Café, Mequon/Thiensville WI, where for a period of six months, she produced two or more paintings a week. The Studio hosted a show in May 2008, where 54 of Valerie's works were on display for a month. Sales were good, but the flooding of the Milwaukee River in early June of 2008 forced the Studio Artists Gallery to close, and along with it, Valerie’s studio. Valerie also participated in the Plein Air painting event and sold her painting Ducks Sunning Themselves at Cedar Creek. Then she joined in the nationally known Strawberry Festival, although a storm blew down her tent. Undaunted, Valerie continued to paint, and in October 2008, the Fattail Gallery in Denver CO included 15 of Valerie’s paintings in a show that ran through November that year. Valerie moved to the warmer climate of the Upper Cumberland Plateau in Cookeville, Tennessee in August 2009, and continues to paint commissions, to paint illustrations for children’s books, and plans a series of paintings of the natural beauty in Tennessee. She has joined the Upper Cumberland Arts Alliance and the ART Prowl.
For more information...contact us via e-mail at: BLUEHERON05@TWLAKES.NET MRTNCREEK@YAHOO.COM call at: 931-678-4555 or write us at: P.O. BOX 155 BAXTER, TN 38544 2011 UCAA OFFICERS: PRESIDENT: CARLA KHOURI VICE PRESIDENT: LAURA CLEMONS SECRETARY: MAXINE OSBURN TREASURER: JERRY STOUT |
||||
