about Valerie

Valerie Young (1935-2024) was a self-taught found-object sculptor. She loved to recover and transform the detritus of American society, and the flea market was my favorite art store.

By combining diverse objects in sculpture with a narrative theme, Valerie attempted to harness the energy represented by the transient tastes of a society that grows bored easily. She had long been intrigued by the African—and later American—tradition of “spirit” jugs. Tribal cultures often incorporated objects in a shrine to reincarnate the spirit of the possessor, and this tradition was eventually translated into a craft for Victorian women. Much of her work is an extension of that tradition.

Valerie’s work appeared group shows at Ellarslie (Trenton City Museum), Morpeth Contemporary, the Noyes Museum in Oceanville, NJ, and the Gallery at Chapin in Lawrenceville. Her work was also shown at the Frank J. Miele Gallery and the Outsider Art Fair in New York, the Bernstein Gallery at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, and Riverrun Gallery in Lambertville. Her work was included in the shows “Vision and Voice: Folk Art by Women of the 20th Century” at the Chubb Atrium Gallery and “Seven New Jersey Sculptors” at the Art Gallery of the College of New Jersey.