BRIEF BIO
Valerie Ostenak is an American painter and sculptor. Visually inspired by nature and images of the cosmos, her abstract paintings featuring metal leaf are atmospheric and impressionistic. As a metalsmith, forged silver and steel are the focus of her signature flowing art jewelry and sculptures. “My art is about transformation and the energy within, its effect on us and the power we have to affect it.”
Ostenak's paintings have been purchased through the New Mexico Art in Public Places program. She was interviewed by National Geographic for their education website; invited to co-brand with Rolls-Royce Automotive in London for their North American RR Owners' Meet; published in art jewelry and blacksmithing books; and taught metalsmithing workshops at universities and associations nationwide. Internationally awarded and exhibited, Ostenak's paintings are currently represented by Steidel Contemporary, Palm Beach FL; Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery, Argentina; ADC Art Design Consultants, Cincinnati OH; and 480 Lighthouse Gallery, Pacific Grove CA.
STATEMENT OF WORK:
I am a multidisciplinary artist who, depending on the concept I'm presenting, works either as a painter or a metalsmith. My art is about transformation and the energy within, its effect on us and the power we have to affect it. I am interested in positive transformation whether physical, psychological, or philosophical. I am intrigued by the energy that it holds, requires, and releases.
Painting allows me to escape the physical and explore the emotions and feelings of transformation. My paintings are abstract impressionism in an atmospheric, dreamy style rich in color and often with high contrast between darks and lights. Purposely meant to stir emotions and feelings instead of being anchored with a visually recognizable object.
In my search for contentment and soul’s peace, I am walking a path of creative exploration observing physical transformations in the natural world, along with the emotions and feelings that those changes bring to the surface. The pieces I create speak to hope, change and becoming better, weathering the storms and learning to swim within the chaos. With my art I offer an accessible vehicle for others to reflect on, to contemplate the beauty in transformation and change. I am inviting the richness of Possibility to their lives, that they may start dialogues to effect positive changes in their communities.
INSPIRATION
Water in its myriad forms, galactic images from the Hubble telescope, flowers and vines, clouds and brilliant sunsets are my visual and philosophical inspirations.
Water contains the energetic power to create change and transformation in landscape, whether waves rolling into shore or rivers carving canyons. Clouds forming from moisture sprinkle the land or drown it.
Images of the cosmos show the deep darkness that exists beyond ourselves, outside our ordinary reality. Swirling within that darkness are an infinite number of brilliant stars, the literal light illuminating the way within ourselves. They are the guideposts that we seek and travel toward to take us out of the dark, to bring us peace and enlightenment. Nebulae in the formation of new systems are as images of thoughts coalescing and becoming real within our mind. They are thought materializing. The Universe is connected to us and acts as a repository for all that we are.
Flowers, delicate and fragile, show incredible strength: dandelions push up from an asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks through tiny cracks. The stored energy that is released in that simple act of Becoming is explosive.
CV: as of Aug. 14, 2024
AWARDS / HONORS
Painting selected for the 2022 Flag Project at Rockefeller Center by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Climate Museum in NYC
Purchase Award, Arizona Citizens for the Arts: painting presented as an award for a category winner of the 38th Annual Governor’s Art Awards
Paintings purchased for Prospectus #248 Southwest Artist Series, Percent for the Arts Purchase, NM
Prospectus #241, a juried competition: curated for New Mexico Art in Public Places
Silver Award, Camelback Gallery International Juried Flower Power 2022 Competition, Spring: Emergence VI
Bronze Award, Camelback Gallery International Juried Shades of Red 2022 Exhibition: The Promise
National Geographic: featured for Artist Appreciation Month (twice in two years)
Saul Bell Design Award, Finalist: Alternative Metals/Materials category, sculptural art jewelry
Emerging Designer Award: chosen as one of six from an international field by Centurion Jewelry Show, an invitation-only show for luxury jewelers and retailers
Grand Prize Winner Halstead Jewelry Design & Business Development Grant
Invited by Rolls-Royce to co-brand and exhibit my sculptural art jewelry at their North American Rolls-Royce Owners Club Annual Meet in Lake Tahoe CA; featured in luxury-content commemorative book distributed exclusively to RR owners internationally
TEACHING / EVENTS
Invited speaker at The Art Institute of Phoenix in the Fashion Accessories courses
Demonstrator/lecturer on blacksmithing and copper forging: Guild of Metalsmiths, MN
Demonstrator/lecturer on non-ferrous forging: ASU, Tempe AZ
Demonstrator/lecturer on blacksmithing: ASU, Tempe AZ
Demonstrator/lecturer on metalsmithing: Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff AZ
Designed/built/installed a hand-forged decorative steel railing at the Grand Canyon Mather Point Amphitheater (three-person team)
National Geographic: Interviewed for their education website
Invited by National Jewelry Institute to Designer Showcase during Paris Fashion Week, France
LA Style Fashion Week, presented jewelry collections on the runways
Phoenix Fashion Week, presented jewelry collections on the fashion runways (2 years)
EXHIBITIONS
2023
Art Comes Alive, Fall Edition, ADC, Cincinnati OH
ASiF Smallworks Holiday Show, Grass Valley, CA
Art Palm Beach, Steidel Fine Art, West Palm Beach FL
Art Santa Fe, Redwood Art Group, online/Santa Fe NM
2022
Flinn Foundation, Cycle 2; Poseidon’s Playground
Portland on the Park Collection Exhibition, Cycle 10 2022; Spring: Emergence VI
Seattle Art Fair, Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery, Seattle WA
The Other Art Fair, Virtual Edition; Saatchi Art
Artexpo New York, Redwood Art Group, New York NY
NightVisions 2022, Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff AZ
Women of the Showroom, Steidel Contemporary, West Palm Beach FL
The Palm Beach Show, Steidel Fine Art, West Palm Beach FL
2021
“Space Art: Women of the Future,” Steidel Fine Art, West Palm Beach FL
“Abstract,” Art Room Gallery,
Celebration of Artists 2021, West Valley Art Museum, Peoria AZ
Making Her Mark: Art By Women, Sonoran Art League, Carefree AZ
Greater Phoenix Revival, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, Phoenix AZ
Palm Beach Design Showroom, (Steidel Fine Art) West Palm Beach FL
ACA, Art Comes Alive!, ADC Fine Art Consultants, Cincinnati OH
2017
Wearable Expressions, 7th International Juried Exhibition, LA, CA
globalDESIGN, Baltimore MD
SNAG: [Up]Setting the Stone, online exhibition of the Society of North American Goldsmiths
Artistar Jewels, art jewelry exhibition, Milan, Italy
2016
Artistar Jewels, art jewelry exhibition, Milan, Italy
4orm & Space, four-person show at Carl Cherry Center for the Arts; Carmel CA
Gratitude, Titus Contemporary Gallery, Carmel CA
SOFA Chicago USA; Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery, Cordoba, Argentina
2015–2003
Artistar Jewels, art jewelry exhibition, Milan, Italy
Art San Diego, exhibited sculpture and jewelry, San Diego CA
SOFA Chicago USA; Maria Elena Kravetz Gallery, Cordoba, Argentina
Women of Steel, two-woman show at Lanning Fine Art Gallery, Sedona AZ
Metal Worked; Pearl Fincher Museum, Spring TX
Artist’s Studio Tour; Monterey CA
CUP; (First Place); Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild; Carmel CA
Reflections in Metal; Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild
PRESS / PUBLICATIONS
“Artistic Impressions” feature page, The World of Interiors (UK), Nov, Dec 2022 & Jan 2023
Canvas Rebel magazine Interview 2022: https://canvasrebel.com/meet-valerie-ostenak
Blink Art Resource, ADC Fine Art Consultants, Cincinnati OH, 2020
Voyage Phoenix, Thought-provokers series, 2019, on-line magazine interview https://voyagephoenix. com/interview/check-valerie-ostenak-s-artwork, Phoenix AZ
Strive for Perfection 2018, Rolls-Royce commemorative annual exclusively for owners & collectors
Voyage Chicago: Thought-Provokers series, 2018, on-line magazine interview https://voyagechicago. com/interview/check-valerie-ostenaks-artwork, Chicago IL
Saul Bell Design Award 2017, exhibition catalog, Albuquerque, NM
Wearable Expressions 2017, exhibition catalog, Los Angeles CA
Artistar Jewels 2014-2017, exhibition catalogs, Milan, Italy
“Jewellery Box,” Valerie Ostenak, British Harper’s Bazaar, Mar & Apr 2014
“In-Style,” Valerie Ostenak, Marie-Claire magazine (British), April 2014
“Sleigh Bells Bling . . . Sparkle This Season!,” Valerie Ostenak, Tatler magazine (British), Dec 2013
“Jewellery Designer Ostenak,” British Vogue magazine, Aug–Dec, 2013
Contemporary Art of the Southwest, by Ashley Rooney, Schiffer Books
Showcase 500 Art Necklaces, Lark Books, June 2013
“Steely Disposition,” by Jeff Prine, Watch & Jewelry Review, Apr 2011
Sedona Magazine, Spring 2011
“Trend & Colours,” CIJ International Jewellery, Spring 2011
Art Jewelry Today, by Dona Meilach
Art Jewelry Today 2, by Jeffrey Snyder
The Contemporary Blacksmith, by Dona Meilach
Best of America: Jewelry Artists & Artisans, Vol. I, Kennedy Publishing
“Art From the Forge,” the fabricator.com, Dona Meilach, May 2003
“Metal of Honor,” The Monterey County Herald, full front page: Arts & Entertainment section, Apr 2003
“Cups Runneth Over,” The Coast Weekly, Apr 2003
