Valerie Graves (born 1941) American, Pastel on Paper. Shows a striking garden wall gate with lush trees overhanging it. Signed bottom right. Label on the back with information from the Frank Oehlschlaeger Gallery, including title: "Blue Gate." Additional inscriptions written on back as well. 

Overall Size: 9 x 11 in. 

Sight Size: 5 x 7 in. 

#8645 

Valerie Graves was born in Carson, New Mexico in 1941. Her extended Mormon family was hard-working and highly artistic, and she spent her childhood studying the colcha embroidery of her mother-in-law Frances Varos Graves, a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Award. Valerie began drawing and then later painting the local landscape, teaching herself to capture the countryside in her own way. In the 1970s she moved to Ranchos de Taos to help care for Frances, and became a regular fixture at local stores, where she would set up an easel and sell her paintings to travelers passing through. In 1988 she illustrated an architectural book on Adobe homes and interiors, which first brought her national attention and acclaim. By the 90s she was recognized as a brilliant artist in her own right, and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Fine Art at the prestigious Taos Arts Festival in 2003. She had won the Best Traditional Painting Award at the same festival for over seven years by that point, along with numerous awards in other shows nationwide. After Frances’ passing in 1999 she began to travel more frequently, exhibiting throughout the West and Southwest, with many pieces included in private and museum collections. In her later years Valerie has devoted more of her time to painting wildlife, as well as supporting relief organizations to help endangered birds and other animals in the Southwest.