Valérie Collymore Collymore is a fine artist, specializing in the French Impressionist Tradition of oil painting. She has lived in Bellevue since 2002.
She spent her childhood in the south of France, and remains very attached to those roots, which are the source of inspiration for the majority of her award-winning oil paintings.
Valérie Collymore exhibits at the Fountainhead Gallery in Queen Anne. She talks about the gallery in warm terms: “This wonderful gallery has been an important part of the Queen Anne and Seattle community for 30 years. I am very lucky to be represented there. At present I sell works exclusively through them, except when participating in competitive national juried group art shows through the United States. It’s hard to find a gallery where people are honest, caring and supportive, community-minded, skilled with clients and sales, and promote works as they do. The warm and expert staff are very welcoming to gallery visitors. It’s a very friendly place and I do sell well there. “
The gallery as well as the district deserve a visit, to discover the works of Valérie Collymore and other artists; the works on display rotate regularly, and opening receptions are held on the first Saturday of the month.
The exhibition, with 22-25 new works by Valerie Collymore, will take place in April 2019. The opening reception is scheduled for Saturday April 6, 2019 5-7pm, Fountainhead Gallery
Valérie Collymore has a studio in Bellevue where she has been teaching painting since 2012. She is also a faculty member at the Gage Academy of Art and a popular instructor at the Frye Art Museum. She routinely sells out workshops in all three locations.
Each month, on Sunday afternoon, she now offers a first-come first-served workshop series titled “Single Topic | Single Skill”, whose goal is to study a concept in depth and then to use innovative and effective hands-on exercises aimed at promoting rapid proficiency of the skill.
Valérie Collymore offers classes:
– At the Frye Museum: “Oil Painting in the French Impressionist Tradition”
– At the Gage Academy of Art: “Fundamentals of French Impressionist Oil Painting”
She attaches great importance to the cohesion of the group, and works hard to create a warm, supportive and joyful atmosphere. She offers small group instruction, for 5 to 6 people in a group.
Valérie Collymore goes beyond the teaching of painting. For a select few, she offers an emerging artist program, that assists clients with building their art business and marketing plan, setting short- and long-term goals, completing a noteworthy professional portfolio, offering critical longterm psychological support, and providing above-average exhibit venues.
Valérie Collymore recently received two awards:
Admission to highly competitive juried exhibits with the American Impressionism Society. About one hundred and sixty artists are selected from a pool of thousands, for these select group exhibits featuring g America’s top artists.
Admission to the highly competitive American Woman Artist at a museum in California, and a being selected as one of the 7 artists out of the 150 exhibiting in the show, to have work featured in Fine Art Connoisseur magazine’s writeup of this important exhibit.
The goal of the AWA is to exhibit and promote women artists in 25 museum shows over the next 5 years. In the recent museum show in California, a catalog of the exhibition was produced, pairing a Renoir painting with Valerie’s painting, a beautiful recognition of Valerie’s devoted practice of honoring the French Impressionist Tradition in her work, talks and teaching.
