Valerie gained a Diploma in Fine Art (Sculpture) from Winchester School of Art and, though having earned a living in a different world of crafts – restoring antiques- she has continued to create sculptural ceramics, being mentored by the late Sandra Eastwood, RA., a brilliant ceramicist. Valerie’s work is popular with private collectors. Now living and working in Kew since 1986 she finds much inspiration in the collections of the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, from which she developed a variety of fruiting forms, or ‘pods’.