About

Short Bio

 Valerie Hollstein grew up in Provence to a family who cherished art and influenced the affinity she has for the medium of vitreous glass and oil paint. Between the demands of raising two children and a career in the airline industry, she  returned to school and graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of University Studies in Fine Arts and Anthropology in 2013.    Valerie Hollstein is best known for her vitreous glass paintings, a process in which she assembles shards of colored glass to create her art. She chooses this medium for the purity of colors and the abstraction of forms. She finds inspiration from the post-impressionist movement which was an integral part of her culture. However her passion for oil painting influences her creativity and she enjoys plein air painting, portraiture, and diverse forms of rendering.

Statement

I find my creative expression with glass painting, a process in which I cut, assemble and glue shards of colored glass to fit my compositions and capture the ideas that surge in my head. I enjoy creating artwork filled with cultural facets and one of my principal theme is the human figure taken in the context of our society. I graduated from the University of Utah in 2013 with a mixed degree of anthropology and Fine Arts to find more answers on what makes us human. Since a very young age I have always been fascinated with cultural diversity, shared practices, different beliefs and human behavior in general.

Most of my artwork strives to start a conversation about universal things, such as culture and tradition. I hope to draw the viewer into scenes that are key components to our “modern” world, stretched with an imaginary approach to the inner meaning of our customs.

I am a mixed media artist who cuts glass shards to fill up paintings. My paintings are done on solid pieces of glass or painted backgrounds. Glass is simply a unique colorful way to allow my paintings to become more than just initial drawings or paintings.

Biography

 Valerie Hollstein grew up in Provence to a family who cherished art and influenced the affinity she has for the medium of vitreous glass and oil paint. Between the demands of raising two children and a career in the airline industry, she  returned to school and graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of University Studies in Fine Arts and Anthropology in 2013.

   Valerie Hollstein is best known for her vitreous glass paintings, a process in which she assembles shards of colored glass to create her art. She chooses this medium for the purity of colors and the abstraction of forms. She finds inspiration from the post-impressionist movement which was an integral part of her culture. While most of her previous traditional Western subjects transitioned to a more contemporary theme, her goal was to remain true to the changes of society.

Since the Covid pandemic Hollstein has found inspiration through collages and different images she transforms with digital media to achieve her personal vision. While her subject matter has changed over the years, her visual language has remained the same. She fabricates stories which portray semi-realistic scenes with figures adapted to local scenery and to her present life in the United States. Hollstein strives to contrast culture, fashion, hipness and human interaction. More importantly, she likes to weave everything together to create a deeper meaning and to answer our quest for human connection.

Resume / CV

Selected Exhibitions 2024- CNS_cares Art and Soup. Mountain Expo Center, Sandy, Utah. 2024- Holladay Arts Council, juried show. Mixed Media second prize. Holladay Utah. 2023- Art at The Park, September 2023, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2023-Holladay Arts Council, juried show. Holladay, Utah. 2023- Bountiful Davis Art Center, 48th Annual Statewide Juried Competition, May 12-July 8, 2023. 2023- Hogle Zoo, juried Art Show, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2023- Cottonwood Country Club, February-March 2023, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2022- Utah Art Market, Christmas Art Market, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2022- Art at The Park, September 2022, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2022- Springville Museum, 98th juried annual Spring Salon, Utah. 2022-Utah Art Market, Spring Art Market, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2022- Holladay Arts Council, juried show, Holladay, Utah. 2022- Utah Art Market, Valentine Art Market. Salt Lake City, Utah. 2022- Utah Art Market, Christmas Art Market, Salt Lake City , Utah. 2022- Tiny Art Show, Holladay Arts Council, juried show. Holladay, Utah. 2022- Hogle Zoo, juried Art show, Salt Lake City, Utah. Award Best of Show. 2021- 30th annual juried art show, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, TX. 2021- Springville Museum, 97th juried annual Spring Salon, Utah. 2021- Holladay Arts, juried art show, City Hall, Utah. Mixed Media first place. 2021- Holladay Arts, "Eye to I" Exhibit, group art show, City Hall, Utah. 2021- Hogle Zoo, Juried Art Show, Salt Lake City,UT. 2020- Holladay Arts, juried show, City Hall, Utah. Mixed Media first place award. People ‘s choice award. 2020- Holladay plein air exhibit. 2020- Spring City plein air competition. 2020- Springville Museum, 96th juried annual Spring Salon, Utah. 2020- Madeley National, Conroe Art League, 5th Annual. 2020- Hogle Zoo, Juried Art Show, Salt Lake City, UT. 2020- Au Naturel Juried Art Show, Astoria, OR. 2019- Art Access Group Show, Salt Lake City, UT. 2019- 28th Annual Juried Art Show, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, TX. 2019- Artist Ranch Project 10th year Anniversary, Calgary, Alberta. 2019- Springville Museum, 95th Juried Annual Spring Salon, Utah. 2019- Western Spirit Art Show, Cheyenne, WY. 2019- Hogle Zoo Juried Art Show, Salt Lake City, UT. Award Best of Show. 2019- Horse Power Exhibit, Curtis Center For The Arts, Greenwood Village,CO 2018- 27th Annual Juried Art Show, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, TX. 2018- Artist Ranch Project, Calgary, AB. 2018-Western Spirit Art Show. Cheyenne, WY. 2017-26th Annual Juried Art Show, Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, TX. 2017-SAMA Mosaic Arts International,MI. 2017-Unique Abstractions- Laguna Beach, CA. 2017- Women in Art- Laguna Beach, CA. 2017- Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum Western Spirit Art Show. Peoples Choice Award. 2016- Artprize, Grand Rapids, MI. Continental U.S award 2nd place in Two Dimensional finalists. 2015- Sprague Library, Group Exhibit, Salt Lake City,UT. 2014- Metamorphosis Show, Two Person Show, The One World Gifts Store, Salt Lake City, UT. Selected Publications: 2023- VoyageUtah. LA-based Voyage Group of Magazines. 2018- Western Horse Review, September/October 2018 2018- Cowboys&Indians 25th anniversary issue, July 2018 2017 -Mosaic Arts International. SAMA 2017- http://artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/valerie-hollsteins-lower-48-in-glass/