Valerie Bechtol

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Title of Chair: "Out of Africa"
I have traveled extensively through out Africa and in 1985 I did a work/study program in the Cote D'Ivore, the Ivory Coast on the West coast of the continent. I worked with the maskmakers of the Baule & Senufo tribes.

Bio
"Bechtol's imposing and mysterious mixed media sculptures have a raw primal power that verges on the unnerving. These haunting pieces seem possessed by profound spiritual forces. Like magical amulets and fetish objects, they exude a strong presence......One's response to their viscerelity reminds us of the primitive impulses just beneath our civilized veneer. Like Marisol's assemblages of the early sixties, Bechtol's sculptures combine figurative and abstract elements to stunning psychological effect."
 -- Blair Schiller, ARTSPEAK(N.Y., N.Y.)

Valerie T. Bechtol's works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States and abroad, including the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham; Museum of Art, Washington State; Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe; the Newport Harbor Art Museum; the Laguna Museum of Art; and the Foga II Galleria de Set in Barcelona, Spain. She is included in many private and corporate collections including Waterjet Corp., the late Dr. Jonas Salk and Francois Gilot, Helen Reddy, and Liza Minnelli and Mark Gero. In addition, her work has been published in numerous periodicals and books, including a new publication entitled, Dreams 1900-2000: Science, Art, and the Unconscious Mind. Published by the Binghamton University Art Museum, Binghamton, New York.