Valori Fussell began studying art in her native Washington D.C. during adolescence. She was deeply affected by the works of Van Gogh and Rembrandt in the National Gallery, and Claes Oldenberg in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. These museums, open and free to the public were a place of quiet and contemplation. It was here that she grew to appreciate both the feeling quality of fine art and the continuity of its evolving and adaptive history.
She graduated Phi Kappa Phi with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1988. Her degree was awarded in Drawing and Painting with a focus on the portrait and figure. While at the university, Valori also undertook concentrated studies in Italian language and the history of early Italian art while broadening her intaglio printmaking skills with studies in lithography. Following graduation she was awarded a printmaking scholarship in Italy through the University of Georgia Studies Abroad Program in Cortona. She is a recipient of an Individual Artist’s Grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts and in 1992 was selected as Artist-in-Residence in Cortona, Italy.
She has exhibited her work in Italy and throughout the United States, is represented in museum collections, public foundations, corporate collections and numerous private collections. Valori has won many awards for her artwork and has been published in books and magazines. (Please see resume.)
Throughout her career, Valori has consistently been a proponent of arts education and has taught both privately and through community colleges in Georgia, New Mexico and California. Currently, and for the previous six years, she teaches Portrait Painting, Drawing Fundamentals, and Human Anatomy for the Figure Artist at Santa Barbara City College, Continuing Education Division, Santa Barbara, California.
A committed teacher, Valori is also a committed student. She takes classes in Life Drawing and Critical Analysis with Jorgen Hansen and Solarplate Printmaking. Valori also studies Tai Chi, is a volunteer reader of college textbooks for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and enjoys hiking with Forrest, her German Shepherd.