Artist's Statement
I have a masters degree in painting from The Royal College of Art. At the conclusion of that experience, I returned to impressionist realism, having explored abstraction and contemporary art. The art world has become disconnected from the real world, making overpriced art for those with esoteric insight. I am drawn to the charm of the English counntryside and the skills required to distill and represent it impressionisitcally.
My subjects are hedgerow plants and cottage gardens...their swelling charm and eternal quiet in a human world faulted by our frantic avarice. As William Wordsworth observed...
The World is Too Much With Us
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. —Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
History
In Summary...
Very Valerie Ellis (Valerie Ellis) is a visual artist of British and Australian nationality specialising in impressionist oil paintings and works on paper. Ellis' style developed from strict representational portraiture through abstract and conceptual art (reflecting her former career as a psychotherapist) to impressionist realism representing the natural world.
Early Life
Ellis was born in November 1969 in Adelaide, Australia to parents previously married in and emigrated from the UK. When she was 6, Ellis' parents divorced and her mother took her back to England to live with grandparents.
Ellis graduated from Park Barn Secondary School in 1984 with the highest mark for an art examination in the country. Despite gaining entry to Epsom College of Art to study fashion, Ellis emigrated back to Australia to live with her father and then independently until entry to The University of Queensland to study psychology. Ellis graduated from University in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts and again in 1996 with an honors degree in psychology. Her thesis was on the topic of attribution theory. In the year following graduation, Ellis married the US/Australian citizen, Charles Barber.
Career
After graduation from The University of Queensland, Ellis worked for Queensland Corrective Services Commission as a community corrections officer - case-managing probationers and parolees. Thereafter, she started a private practice in the western suburbs of Brisbane serving mostly women going through divorce and re-partnering.
In 2000, Ellis and her husband divorced and she moved to Maleny in the Sunshine Coast area for three years and then back to Brisbane's eastern suburb, Bulimba. At that time, Ellis returned to her artistic origins, started an interior design business, then a scarf design business and developed her ability to paint still life subjects in oil paint. In 2019 she completed a graduate diploma in business. She also published a book of relationship advice, "Compatibility: 8 Pillars of Lasting Love"[1] in 2019.
Back to England
In 2019, Valerie Ellis moved back to the UK, 30 years after leaving as a teenager. She moved to the Surrey town of Leatherhead and then Weybridge, establishing a studio dedicated to developing an art practice. In 2020, the painting "Beauty and Determination" was selected into the ING Discerning Eye exhibition by celebrity art-collector Beverley Knight. This success reflected a focus on painting portraiture after which Ellis developed an interest in post impressionist and abstract art from the 1930's - 1970's.
In 2021, the "Touch Me" collection of abstract expressionist oil paintings (painted in 2020) went on display at Espacio Gallery in Shoreditch, London. The show was attended by the London Art Critic, Tabish Khan, the author of the Salterton Arts Review, Erin Caswell of Christies Auction House and a director of a prominent London gallery who acquired one of her charcoal drawings. In 2021, the "First Impressions" series of works on paper debuted at The Other Art Fair presented by Saatchi Art in The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. This series of framed pastels and charcoals were symbolic representations of people wounded by their childhood - pieces of paper crumpled and then smoothed with charcoal-covered hands to represent the way childhood treatment effects people for the rest of their lives - "a topography of hurt". The First Impressions series was the first really explicit combination of Valerie Ellis' career in art and career in psychology. In 2022, the paper series 'Spread Too Thin' was exhibited in London. Paper pulp was spread in various experimental ways to represent the current cost-of-living crisis.
Art College
In 2023, Ellis was accepted into The Royal College of Art for masters degree in painting and graduated in 2024. During her study, she also won the opportunity to exhibit in the RCA Kensington gallery and curated the International MAW exhibition showcasing the artwork of her and fellow 'middle-aged-women' study various disciplines at the college.
Influences & Style
Ellis was influenced by the New York school of abstract expressionism, the post-impressionist Chaim Soutine, Franz Kline, and Frank Auerbach for their painterly style. Also, for the extent of their personal ambition and social impact, Paula Rego and Helen Frankenthaler. Having attended The Royal College of Art and gained insight into the contemporary art world, Ellis returned to the impressionist realism that characterised her early work and admires the work of Monet, Mary Cassat and Joaquin Sorolla.
exhibition review
Erin Caswell, Salterton Arts Review
A look at the latest series by Valerie Ellis, artist and former psychotherapist. Spread Too Thin once again captures the Zeitgeist of our current moment.
Today’s post is a rare commercial gallery outing for the Salterton Arts Review. Even rarer, this is an artist whose work we have seen before. Valerie Ellis is a British-Australian artist whose journey to art took a somewhat circuitous path. Her twenty years working as a psychotherapist have helped to shape an artistic practice at the intersection of art and psychology. In Touch Me, the series the Salterton Arts Review visited in 2021 at London’s Espacio Gallery, Ellis examined brushwork as the traces of a physical presence, at a time when we were all starved for touch and human connection.
Ellis’s next series, which I discussed with the artist but have not had the privilege of seeing up close, took this art/psychology connection a step further. First Impressions is a metaphor for the traces childhood leaves on the psyche. Paper is crumpled and smoothed, the resulting lines and wrinkles highlighted, for instance with a soft layer of pastel. The result is topographical: at the same time visually compelling and a powerful way of making manifest that the past, for good or bad, cannot be undone.
And now Spread Too Thin once again captures the Zeitgeist by exploring the boundary between art and psychology. Ellis explains:
“When spread too thin, people become fragile, frayed at the edges, buckling under pressure and vulnerable. This series is a minimalist, symbolic reflection of the experience we all encounter when we take on too much, try too hard to impress others by pushing ourselves beyond healthy limits and overextending ourselves.”
An intriguing offering, which I was keen to see for myself.
Overextension Laid Down On Paper
The concept here is simple. Ellis has taken paper pulp, often white but sometimes with colour, and pushed it to its limits. Literally spread it too thin. The result is a variety of different textures. The titles of the works often give a hint as to the process and sometimes the intention. We see for instance Swept, Poked, Blobbed which physically embody these actions. Shattered, Inundated or Stretched do double duty as actions and mental states. Shattered was a particular favourite of mine, delicate fragments of cellulose mounted and framed, incredibly tactile.
Aside from the concept, for me it is the tactile nature of these artworks which makes them so interesting. This series essentially captures a physical action and preserves it as a moment in time. I found myself getting up close. Looking at where the paper lifts proud of the mount, where it is thicker or thinner. It seems a shame almost to have the glass between us, and I agreed with something Valerie said to me in conversation: that some samples of the paper would have been a nice addition to allow visitors to experience the physicality of them. I don’t think samples would have lasted long, however. What is already spread too thin will quickly break down under the slightest pressure.
And this brings me to my reflection after visiting the exhibition. As with Ellis’s previous series, this is art which surfaces an issue by making it physical, but it remains up to the viewer to decide what to do with that information. In Spread Too Thin, the clue is in the title. Spread too thin. We know what it feels like to spread ourselves too thin. It’s uncomfortable. It’s unsustainable. What I’m still unsure of is what we do about it. But giving the answers tied up neatly with a bow is not the role of art, after all. The viewer, like the burned-out individual, is an active agent and needs to take a role in the process.
I’m afraid today’s post is something of a teaser, as I visited on the last day of the exhibition and so haven’t given you the opportunity to see it for yourself. You can see the series here online, with better images than I was able to capture in Noho Studios’ underground space.
Once more I look forward to seeing what is next from Valerie Ellis. These conceptual series lend themselves to a distinct series of production before moving on to the next idea (I mean maybe not: how many Concetto Spaziale did Fontana produce, for instance?). I expect that Ellis’s next exhibition will be different again, but look forward to her continuing to capture and distill our unpredictable times through art.
exhibition review
Gemma Moore, (MFA), Artist & IYP Consultant for Esmee Fairbairn, London.
“Upon entering the gallery space, I was immediately drawn to the relatability of the show's poster. Spread Too Thin is an expression so many of us can relate to when considering how messy and stressful our experiences of the world can be.
Once I learnt that the materiality of paper was a representation of skin, the exhibition's logic became apparent; the handling of the paper represents what our minds can feel like. This was represented through material. It was a representation of how much we try to cover and compensate for over time. The way in which the paper had been malfunctioned, manipulated and disrupted reflected the way in which our skin and bodies become damaged by the pressures of life. The works were abstract drawings with paper, characterised by broken and disrupted marks. This once again references the how the world leaves us feeling – broken, and our thoughts are often distracted, disrupted and disturbed. The exhibition reminded me of an amazing book I read titled How to Get your Life Back by John Eldredge.
Saturated distinctly signified our bodily response to stress and concern. The way in which the paper had been manipulated to its thinnest point reflected what we call our “breaking point”. The work represented the aesthetics of our sayings "I am shattered" or "broken". The work was a physical representation of how we can sometimes feel. Something tangible that articulates how we feel inside, which is difficult. The paper’s textures, tones and shapes appeared bodily and reflected human like characteristics.
I also thoroughly enjoyed Valerie's constant and rigorous questioning of the work's interaction with viewers and its presence in the space."
In the Media
Art Critic Blog
Art Critic Blog
Art Critic Blog
Ellis is increasingly on the London artistic radar, with visits to her exhibition from several tastemakers... Speaking to Valerie about her work was a wonderful privilege...She describes the paintings as a way to push beyond figurative representation; instead communicating her own physical presence as a person who chose colours, laid down
Ellis is increasingly on the London artistic radar, with visits to her exhibition from several tastemakers... Speaking to Valerie about her work was a wonderful privilege...She describes the paintings as a way to push beyond figurative representation; instead communicating her own physical presence as a person who chose colours, laid down brushstrokes. Ellis’s work shows technical talent as well as an insightful purpose behind her recent abstract canvases. I look forward to seeing what comes next...
A refreshing take on the theme of touch and connection from an Australian artist in London. Valerie Ellis is one to watch.
Erin Caswell, the Salterton Arts Review.
News Site
Art Critic Blog
Art Critic Blog
Psychologists believe this bias to favour tall leaders may stem from an evolved preference for physically imposing chiefs who could dominate enemies.
Psychotherapist and artist, Valerie Ellis, says: “Men of power are often depicted on a pedestal or a horse and having those around you ‘looking-up’ to you is a strategic psychological move. T
Psychologists believe this bias to favour tall leaders may stem from an evolved preference for physically imposing chiefs who could dominate enemies.
Psychotherapist and artist, Valerie Ellis, says: “Men of power are often depicted on a pedestal or a horse and having those around you ‘looking-up’ to you is a strategic psychological move. The usual evolutionary explanation for the appeal of height is that it provides a survival advantage to the individual and the species; the ability to kill more game, out-run predators and attract prospective mates means height is naturally selected for genetically.”
While it appears the odds are stacked against shorties, it is not all doom and gloom.
Nick Harding
Magazine
Art Critic Blog
Magazine
Former psychotherapist Valerie Ellis says this video-first format is likely to have a huge impact on our brains – and not in a good way.
‘For consumers, video content is also more demanding to process mentally – more than double, perhaps as much as 10x more cognitively demanding, than a static image,’ she says.
‘The brain has a capacity tha
Former psychotherapist Valerie Ellis says this video-first format is likely to have a huge impact on our brains – and not in a good way.
‘For consumers, video content is also more demanding to process mentally – more than double, perhaps as much as 10x more cognitively demanding, than a static image,’ she says.
‘The brain has a capacity that can be exhausted and, once exhausted, needs to be replenished.
‘But, because social media is 24/7 and designed to be addictive, the brain is not rested and becomes more and more overwhelmed with demand.’
Online News Network, Metro50
Magazine
Magazine
Magazine
As Valerie Ellis, a former therapist turned artist whose work explores interpersonal and feminist issues, explains: “It’s a combination of genetic/evolutionary factors and cultural stereotypes... Culturally, men are held to less rigorous ‘beauty’ standards...this has translated into the extreme youth culture women are subjected to and int
As Valerie Ellis, a former therapist turned artist whose work explores interpersonal and feminist issues, explains: “It’s a combination of genetic/evolutionary factors and cultural stereotypes... Culturally, men are held to less rigorous ‘beauty’ standards...this has translated into the extreme youth culture women are subjected to and into pornography that takes physical ideals to bizarre extremes of Barbie-doll figures. Happily, as culture advances, these simplistic and harmful stereotypes are challenged and replaced with more nuanced indicators of individual value. Social media has made a positive contribution by exposing the variety in human form and inclusion into social standards.”
Magazine
Magazine
Magazine
"Former psychotherapist Valerie Ellis and Maria Bailey, founder of Grief Specialists, both point out that it might feel strange to mourn someone you’ve never met. The sense of familiarity with the Queen and the loss associated with her death may feel silly to some people, even as they’re grieving, which makes it harder to talk about.
“Try
"Former psychotherapist Valerie Ellis and Maria Bailey, founder of Grief Specialists, both point out that it might feel strange to mourn someone you’ve never met. The sense of familiarity with the Queen and the loss associated with her death may feel silly to some people, even as they’re grieving, which makes it harder to talk about.
“Try to stay with the feelings you have until you can describe them clearly to yourself, if not to anyone else. There is likely to be a mixture of feelings and thoughts and it’s fine to have lots of different perspectives on the same moment,” Ellis tells us.