Awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Fine Art at the prestigious Taos Invites Taos Show at the Taos Fall Arts Festival, Valerie Graves joins R.C. Gorman and Agnes Martin in receiving that special honor.
The winner of Best Traditional Painting Award in the Taos Fall Arts Festival for seven years in a row – along with a number of Best In Show Awards and the Judges’ Award in one year in addition to numerous awards in other shows nationwide, her work is included in many private and museum collections throughout the country.
In 2015 the Board of Trustees of the Millicent Rogers Museum selected a Valerie Graves painting as winner of Best In Show for their Millicent Rogers Museum 13th annual Miniatures Show and Sale.
Although known as a Master Painter of landscapes, capturing the magical Taos light in her nuanced renderings (many have noted that her work is inspired by, and bears a strong resemblance to, the early Taos Founder paintings), Valerie also has a childlike and whimsical side, which comes alive in these marvelous miniature depictions of Christmas in Northern New Mexico.
Valerie’s love of New Mexico; the land and light and culture, the animals, birds and wildlife all inform her work. She donates a good deal of her time and artistic efforts to help animals including the Equine Spirit Sanctuary in Taos, the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada among others.
An amateur birdwatcher, she is a member of the Friends of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, National Audubon Society, and numerous other bird-oriented organizations,
Perhaps it is this deep reverance for Nature and all of its creatures, that enables her to cast a fairytale spell at this time of year, with these wondrous miniature Christmas scenes, that capture so beautifully, the deeper meaning of the Season; the celebration of the Universal Child in all of us.
Wilder Nightingale Fine Art , Rob Nightingale’s highly acclaimed gallery has been chosen “Best of Taos” for a number of years, For more information on both the artist and gallery, do visit the site linked below this post.
All images c/o Rob Nightingale
