Valerie Wiebe

Valerie Wiebe is an artist, singer/songwriter and designer living and working on a farm south of the town of Langham, Saskatchewan. Valerie has degrees in Music, Arts Education, Fine Arts-Painting and Fine Arts-Interior Architecture and Design. After getting married and moving to the Langham area in the late 1980s, she taught within the local public school system for 6 years before moving to live and work in Bangladesh for 3 years with Mennonite Central Committee. This experience was a pivotal moment for Valerie, propelling her to cease teaching, and to pursue instead her own creative endeavors in art and music. Her paintings are inspired by the wide swathes of sky and vast horizons that surround her home farm in all directions.

How would you describe what craft is?

I have always found the separation between what is craft and what is art rather arbitrary. In my experience, it is all just creativity; it is all coming out of the same well. Humans like to classify things, decide if something is one thing or the other – dualistic thinking, which, by the way, has gotten the human race into no end of trouble. I am all about trying to blur those lines, another reason why I finish my pieces the way I do. My sympathetic margins are a place for me to bring in the crafting element, explore other ways to express my thoughts and ideas, and hone my craft.

Where did you learn your craft?

I have nurtured my maker’s spirit through personal exploration, degrees in music, education, art and design, and other short courses. I am a maker and a life-long learner.

What is your inspiration

I am inspired by the prairie landscape in which I live. I pay special attention to the shifting light, to cloud formations and the relationship of the sky to the land.