Val Britton


Val Britton is an American artist, best known for her works on paper and installations. She creates abstract collage works using paper and other mixed media that reference the language of maps, network diagrams and astronomical photography. She lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 14 years, and as of 2018, she lives in Seattle, Washington.

Biography

Val Britton was born in 1977 in Livingston, New Jersey, her father was a long haul truck driver. She has said in interviews, when she was young her father died and that has influenced the visual language of her work.
She received her B.F.A. in Printmaking in 1999 from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. After RISD she moved to Brooklyn, and in 2004 she moved to San Francisco to attend graduate school. Britton received her M.F.A. from California College of the Arts (CCA) in 2006.
In 2010, Britton served at the Artist in Residence Program at Recology San Francisco and produced an exhibition called Index to Selected Stars. Index to Selected Stars featured collage work made with various types of tape, inks and various types of found paper.
In 2014, Gallery Wendi Norris in San Francisco presented Val Britton's first San Francisco gallery solo show entitled Passage.

Exhibitions

This is a list of select exhibitions by Val Britton, in order by descending year.

Group shows

Solo shows

  • 2012–2013 – The Continental Interior, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco
  • 2013 – Terra incognita, CES Contemporary, Laguna Beach
  • 2013 – Cosmology, Foley Gallery, New York
  • 2014 – Passage, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco
  • 2016 – Transmissions, Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco

Permanent collections

Voyage, located in connecting corridor departures level between domestic Terminals 1 and 2, San Francisco International Airport

Awards

Publications

  • Val Britton / Reverberations, 2016.
  • Harmon, Katharine. The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, 2009.