Val Britton was born in 1977 in Livingston, NJ, and now currently resides in San francisco, CA.  For her BFA, Britton attended and graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, and from there she received her MFA at the California College of the Arts.  Britton has found numerous successes through her art which has resulted in gallery shows, grants, residencies, and commissions.  Britton is known for her paper and mixed media works which represent maps, astronomy, and diagrams.  Britton was inspired by her father who was a long distance truck driver.  When he passed away early in Britton’s life, she found inspiration within the maps that her father had to use to navigate his long travels.  Britton uses numerous methods within her pieces; from staining, to collage, to printing, stitching, etc., although this may be a long process, Britton finds it meditative, and claims that her pieces blur the lines between imagination and memory.  Britton’s goal in her pieces is to create movement, since her pieces are abstract she says that this is her challenge.  Currently, Britton is trying to figure out a way to push her work to represent a tension of imposed order and pandemonium.  Britton says that the retelling of our stories of our journeys, and the reconstruction of those experiences, work together to create an understanding of the now, and so the retelling itself is in fact a journey.

Collapsible City

2012
Approximately 6′ h x 7′ w
graphite, ink, tempera, and collage on paper