Minnie Valero

Artist's Bio

Born in Argentina, Minnie Valero now lives in California (USA) and France. She holds BFA from Universidad de Cordoba, Argentina, and Masters in Arts degrees from California State University Dominguez Hills and UCLA. She has also studied Chinese Art and language in Hong Kong, watercolor and oils at L'Ecole de Beaux Arts de Paris, and Pastel portraiture at the Societe de Pastellistes de France,  in Paris, France.

Minnie sketches and paints on her trips. Two years ago she entered a sketchbook for the Brooklyn Art Library's Sketchbook Project, in New York, without realizing how far her sketchbook would go. The original is permanently housed at the Brooklyn Art Library, and the scanned images became her book: My Three Lives: in Argentina, USA, and France, available at Amazon.com and other venues. This book is also part of the permanent collection in some public libraries in France. 

She has been publishing a painting almost daily, with comments about art, art history, and her travels, since 2010.  You can see it at http://minnievalero.blogspot.com

Minnie paints in all media: watercolor, pastel, acrylic and oils. She lets the painting choose the medium. Her inspiration comes from her travels, her readings, every day life, and her own reflections and imagination. Her challenge in 2012 was having an individual show in California in April, then an aritst residency in Budapest, Hungary, in July, and prepare an individual show in France in September. November brought her back to exhibiting and working in California.  She believes that change and evolution are good, and that stretching ourselves out of our comfort zone help us grow. 

Artist's Statement

As a little girl in Mendoza, Argentina, I used to draw pictures on the margins of all my schoolwork. Later I continued drawing and painting landscapes, my children, my friends, some abstracts, considering my work a hobby, secondary to my “real” studies in languages,  linguistics and education both in Argentina and the United States, and to my professional career in public education in California.

When I retired as high school Assistant Principal in 2005,  there was nothing else I wanted to do but paint.  Since then,  I have dedicated myself to improve my knowledge of  art history and perfect the techniques of different media, visit art museums around the world, and share my enthusiasm  and passion for art with my students in California and France, through my workshops.  Art is life.