Artist Profile: Val Landa Born 1940, Sydney. She has been painting and drawing since the early 60′s when she studied with the world-renowned Stanislaw Rapotec. From 1961 to 1984 she studied at the Royal Art Society (portraiture), East Sydney Tech. College (now the National Art School), was a member of a life drawing group at Hunter’s Hill which included Nora Heyson, Franklin Bennett and other well-known artists.
She worked at Gladesville Hospital Pottery Studio in ceramics, and studied Sculpture for three years with Jean Broome-Norton. In 1988 and 1989 she received an Art Certificate and Assoc. Diploma majoring in painting. During 1990 and 1991 she was an active member of the Arts Committee of the Hunters Hill Municipal Council. During the summer of 1992 she studied at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, USA. Val then joined the Workshop Arts Centre at Willoughby.
Over all these years she has taken part in numerous exhibitions and group shows, and especially enjoyed the Willoughby Portrait group, exhibiting with them. She has won many prizes and awards.
In October 1996, Australian Artist Magazine published an extensive article about her painting methods and featured many of her paintings. In 2001 Val attended a Marathon painting and drawing workshop in Adelaide conducted by the Dean of the New York Studio School, New York. She also won 2nd prize in the Rural Landscape section at the Royal Easter Show. She won 1st Prize at the Inaugural Art Exhibition at Woollahra School, Sydney.
In 2002 Val won the Lane Cove Art Society Prize, the Drummoyne 1st Prize for the best Modern Painting, as well as a Highly Commended Prize. In Oct 2002 Val exhibited with at the Vista Blue Gallery, Nth Sydney. She then took part in a group show of “Artists from the Hill” at Hunters Hill.
In 2003 she received a VHC Award in the Art of Sydney Exhibition. Also she won 1st Prize for drawing and 1st Prize for Landscape in the Royal Canberra Art Show, the Drummoyne Art Society Joshua Smith Best in Show Prize, the Modern Painting Prize and a Commended for Landscape. She was a finalist with two paintings in both the Hunters Hill Art Exhibition and the Waverley Art Exhibition.
In 2004, Val won 1st Prize in the Royal Canberra Show (Modern Painting) and 3rd Prize for Still Life. Val had many paintings hung at the Royal Easter Show and two paintings in Hunter’s Hill Show, and was commended in Drummoyne for a drawing. Val exibited at the Art House Hotel with the Portrait Artists Australia in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She was commended in the Fishers Ghost Award, Campbelltown for a modern work.
In 2005 she was a finalist in the Shirley Hannan Prize for Portraiture and also won a 2nd prize for Drawing in the Kurringgai Annual Art Prize. Val is represented in private collections in the USA, UK Hong Kong and across Australia, has exhibited in numerous mixed and group shows in private galleries, and has exhibited at the New York Art Expo International in Feb. 2003.
She has a love of colour, loves to draw the nude and often will place a figure in an imaginary landscape. She especially loves Portraits of people and specializes in dogs, and can be commissioned on a project basis for varied works.