My Personal Story...

Awakened by Fantasia-like dreams… As a child, I began to realize that I experienced a very different world. I was drawn to color and the need to express myself. Night after night, recurrent dreams awakened me. Trying to capture these beautiful images, I placed a piece of paper and crayons at my bedside.  The first night, I drew with eyes open and lights on...The following nights, I drew with eyes shut, in order to continue the dream and see the beautiful images from inside my head...

At age FIVE, I was deemed an artist by my Kindergarten teacher who left a classroom of small children as she ran one of my artworks down the hall to the principal, showing, “Look what this child just did!” Often times I’d say, “When I grow up, I want to be an artist!” My classmates would then exclaim, “Valerie, you ARE an artist!”

I loved the bold color of crayons and my first impression of bright paint on a large brush, standing before an easel to create with complete self-expression. My first teacher, my first experience away from home, was everything positive and nurturing. Each day, not only was I learning, but learning to discover! I remember imprinting my tiny hand into a squishy mound of clay that was sent home as a ceramic keepsake for my parents. That plaque, still sentimental today, seems to commemorate that first wonderful expression of being an artist.

As a young adult…I was moved by a powerful daydream. Visions of a gallery flooded my head! As of then, I had never worked in an art gallery, nor knew that I ever even would. Having just moved from a big city to a quiet mountain town, my heart yearned for creativity and my mind sparked with imagination. Overcome by this daydream, I felt compelled, once again, to record my dreams on paper. Page by page unfolded the many ideas that flashed through my head…

With many turns and curves and decades later, these gallery dreams locked deep inside have, at last, emerged into a new form of total self-expression. Today, entering 26 years in the gallery industry, I have combined my professional art and design background along with a slice of my own personality. In collaboration with my artistic and musical family, I hope you’ll find we’ve created a gallery experience to be enjoyed on an exciting new level, in a beautiful and new way!

Valerie Phillips, Owner/curator

Valerie has over thirty-five years of experience in the art and design industry. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s School of Art and Design. She worked for Fleishman-Hillard Inc. where she handled the graphic design accounts for their top client, Anheuser-Busch and its subsidiaries, among others. She also designed for Ackerman, Hood and McQueen and worked as a freelance makeup artist for three leading cosmetic companies. Most recently, Valerie managed three independent art galleries in the Kansas City area over a fifteen-year span prior to opening Gallery V Fine Arts.