About the Artist

Adrienne Kernan LaVallee makes landscape paintings in a “she-shed studio” nestled into a neighborhood on the shores of Biddeford Pool. She is surrounded by nature, the ever-changing colors, light, and energy of the Maine coast which has become the primary inspiration for her work. 

Born in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, LaVallee began spending vacation time in Maine as a child. Her lifelong journey which led her to move to Maine full time first took her to the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, cum laude. Next, it was on to Baltimore and The Maryland Institute College of Art for a Master of Fine Art degree. There she studied with Salvador Scarpita and Edward Dugmore and was fortunate enough to meet and discuss aspects of painting with Grace Hartigan, Merriam Schapiro and Lowell Nesbit, among others.

In the years after graduate school, LaVallee lived in New Hampshire and exhibited her painting mostly in New England and New York State with early one person exhibitions in Boston, at the former Laughlin-Winkler Gallery; Connecticut College; Clark University; Colby-Sawyer College; and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Over many years, her work has been selected for numerous juried exhibitions and has received honors including First Place at the New Hampshire Arts Biennial juried by Barbara Krakow. Other group juried show locations include The Barn Gallery, Ogunquit, ME; The Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH; The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA and The Providence Art Club, RI.

Teaching was a passion for LaVallee, now retired. She taught full and part-time at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH where she was the Assistant Director of The Chapel Art Center for ten years. LaVallee was the recipient of two New Hampshire State Artists Fellowships; she is a founding member of the New Hampshire Chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art; and served as managing editor and coeditor of “Options: The New Hampshire Visual Arts Magazine” for three years. “Options” was supported through a grant from the New Hampshire Department of Education.

Journey from Abstraction to Symbolism, to the Landscape

In 1995 Adrienne applied for and was accepted into a five-week artist residency at The Crescent H Ranch in Wilson, WY. There she began a very serious exploration of the landscape. She had been making and selling small landscape studies for a couple of years prior along with her other art. The Crescent H experience would prove to be everlasting. 

“The time spent alone painting and exploring parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana changed my life and the direction I needed to take my painting. Being surrounded by the grand side to nature with no responsibilities except for making art was awe inspiring”. 

LaVallee credits Dr. Denise Askin, Fr Peter Guerin, and Saint Anselm College for being supportive of this undertaking. 

“Denise encouraged me when I spoke with her and described my plans. When I returned, Fr Peter made it possible for me to have a studio on campus. There I continued painting landscapes but with New England subject matter”.

The next big change in artistic direction took place in Biddeford, ME when LaVallee changed from painting realist landscape imagery to her current work she calls a form of expressive contemporary Impressionism. 

“For most of my adult life, I painted and exhibited work but I was also teaching, lecturing, and involved with several arts organizations. After the death of my dear father in 2010 came the permanent move to Maine where I began to focus my prime energies into my art”.
 
LaVallee is represented by Maine Art Hill Galleries in Kennebunk and a selection of small paintings are available through mid-November at The George Marshall Store Gallery in York, ME.