“Valerie Thomas was born, raised, and educated in Boston. It was her dream as a child to grow up and become an artist. Nurtured by her father and his lifelong love of art and photography, and her maternal grandfather who was a professional commercial artist, Valerie attended and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design with a BFA degree in Graphic Design. Her career took her to Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Advertising in Boston as art director. Later, as she raised her children, she worked from home in landscape architecture.
In 1999, Valerie decided to seriously pursue her love of painting. Encouraged by Judy Ryan, of the Fenway Studios and the MFA, she began studies in the Boston School under Robert Cormier (of the Ives Gammell Studio) in classical realism and portraiture and with David Curtis of Gloucester, painting landscapes and still life in oil and pastel.
Valerie’s love of the ocean and the simple architecture found on Cape Cod (where she spent all her summers growing up), Nantucket, and Cape Ann offered her an endless supply of subject matter: “My goal is to try and catch the feeling of that particular day (through composition and color).”
In 2001 Valerie’s first children’s book, “My Nantucket ABC Book” was published by Whales Tales Children’s Books of Nantucket. She is currently working on “My Boston ABC Book” and “Meow Cow.” She has been a guest at the Nantucket Athenaeum many times, attending the 2006 Nantucket Author’s Day Celebration. The Athenaeum has three of her original illustrations in their permanent art collection.
In 2002, she had her first solo show at Nantucket’s Brad Brooks Gallery. And later at the Artist’s Association of Nantucket. She was juried into the Guild of Boston’s Open Show exhibited at the Harvard Club in 2006, and won third place for pastel in the Duxbury Winter Juried Show of 2005; and admitted to this show every time she applied. She has been a member of the Nantucket Artists Association for thirty five years and her work has been shown there, at Nantucket Looms, and other Nantucket shops. She was also a member of the Cape Cod Art Association, and showed in Chatham for many years. Valerie also lived in Winthrop, and was a board member of the Winthrop Art Association, for five years. Also winning several awards.
A move to Midcoast Maine in August 2018, is proving to be full of inspiration, awe, and challenge - a perfect combination for this artist. Valerie’s paintings can now be seen at the Small Wonder Gallery in Camden, Maine, The Pemaquid Art Gallery in Bristol, Maine, and online shows at the Artists Association of Nantucket.”