Vallance Arnold Samuelson

1913-2000

The artistic varieties and events in a life of painting, teaching, lecturing and art exploration:

Born: February 27, 1913 Barret, Minnesota, died: February 29, 2000 Cathedral City, California

Art Education:
Student of painting, sculpture and graphic design at the Minneapolis School of Art and the Institute of Fine Arts.

Show and Exhibitions:
Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts - First comprehensive exhibition of paintings, drawings and graphic designs.

Minneapolis Public Library - Showing of original book illustrations in the medium of pen and ink drawings duplicating wood cuts when reproduced in printed form.

Minneapolis Tribune Building - Preview showing of original drawings created for Poetry House Publishers in New York.

Poetry House, New York - Showing of preliminary idea sketches with printed poems and the final, original illustrations for three poetry anthologies having national distribution.

Chabot Gallery of Fine Arts, Los Angeles - A joint showing of mixed media abstract painting along with 2 portrait showings by Tom Huber.

Greek Theatre, Los Angeles - A solo showing of acrylic abstract paintings.

Los Angeles County Museum - An invitational showing of book illustrations in a group exhibition.

Harry J. Wendland Advertising Agency, Los Angeles - A company showing of twenty-four watercolor landscapes and figures painted while traveling in Mexico from the west coast of Acapulco to the east coast of Vera Cruz.

Long Beach Art Association - Showing of paintings and drawings

Scandinavian American Art Society of the West - Club showing during the occasion of being appointed president of the society.

Long Beach Art Association Headquarters - A solo showing of landscapes, seascapes and drawings.

Northern Arizona University of Flagstaff - A solo exhibition of acrylic abstracts.

Follett Publishing Company of Chicago - An exhibit in Chicago of drawings for three children's song books created for nation-wide public school distribution. These illustrations won the first awards for two of the best books of the year judged by the American Lithographer's Association.

Riverside County Museum - A solo showing of transparent acrylic abstract paintings on Plexiglas.

Idyllwild, California at the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA) - A showing of pen and ink drawings illustrating song books created by Bea and Max Krone. Max Krone (deceased) was the Founder and President of ISOMATA.

Old Town Galleries of San Diego - An exhibit of paintings in oil of North West California.

Desert Southwest Art Gallery, Palm Desert, California - Five consecutive yearly solo shows of semi-abstract, acrylic paintings depicting desert landscapes.

Twenty-Nine Palms Art Association, Twenty-Nine Palms, California - An exhibit of desert southwest paintings in mixed media.

Special Events:
World War II, North Hollywood, California - Made portraits in charcoal of convalescing soldiers at a hospitalization center once a week with famous magazine illustrators such as Andrew Loomis, Ren Wicks, Pruet Carter, Joshua Meador, Jon Whitcom and other local artists of Hollywood. The artist donated their talent making two drawings an evening which were shipped to the families of the convalescing soldiers.

Television Station KMIR, Palm Springs, California - Val A. Samuelson, solo presentation titled "Art in Action." This twenty-two week, half hour, weekly show included painting demonstrations in oil, acrylics and pastels by Mr. Samuelson. He also outlined and illustrated design principles for beginning artists. Later in the show professional artists were invited to demonstrate their techniques on the educational program which was sponsored by Station KMIR and Everybody's Village in Palm Springs.

Thirty-Two Years of Art Activities in Palm Springs, California
After several successful years as Art Director of two advertising agencies in the Los Angeles area, The Harry J. Wendland and the Edward G. Kellog agencies, Mr. Samuelson moved to Palm Springs. He accepted a position as Art Director and part-time Editor of the Villager Magazine which was originally owned by George Wheeler. This publication eventually became and is currently Palm Springs Life magazine. Val Samuelson was a prolific easel painter along with performing other numerous art activities. His abstract and landscape paintings are owned by collectors nation-wide, abroad and by many local desert residents.

Painting Teacher: as a long-time popular painting instructor, Samuelson's teaching experiences included classes for ten years at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Teaching in all mediums, he held numerous group and private instruction classes.

Art Director of the Palm Springs Desert Museum during its growth in two locations, over a period of twelve years, Mr. Samuelson was contributing to exhibit construction, painting scientific murals, and creating advertising media.

Art Show Juror - Invited as a professional competitive art show juror, Mr. Samuelson has judged many art exhibitions and photographic shows on the west coast in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Indio, Twenty-Nine Palms, and for numerous Palm Springs area groups. For five consecutive years he judged in the painting category at the La Quinta Art Association Festival.

Honored Artist of the Year - In 1990 Val Samuelson was honored as Artist of the Year at the La Quinta Art Association.

As a studio easel painter in the latter years, his creative endeavors were primarily abstract works while he listened to and painted to famous classical composers. These canvases were featured in two solo shows in Palm Desert and Idyllwild, California.

Submitted by Fred Gibbs whose source is the widow of the artist.