Valerie Price West

“Inspiration for my work is always very personnel and relates to my own experiences be it rowing Celtic long boats out at sea or riding my horses competitively. All my work tries to portray a special relationship that can be built working together as a team, the inner soul and strength of how far we can push ourselves and what we are able to endure physically and mentally”.

Horses have played a huge part in our history. These powerful intelligent creatures helped us to move forward and before the development of the combustion engine, we were totally dependent on them in all aspects of our daily life.’ I have covered a few horse related areas within my work – The ‘Letting Go Series’ portrays the loss of a horse whom you have built an exceptional bond with. The ‘War Horse Series’ encompasses what I feel the horses went through during WWI, the hardship they endured and the unquestionable loyalty they gave.

My most recent work ‘Let the Fun Begin’ pieces, of horses with masked riders, are my guardians and protectors of all things good. They are unseen spirits riding together as one, totally in tune with each other. Ideas for this work came from looking into female warriors who were not only great horsemen and highly skilled warriors but would die on the sword for what they believed in.’