Valerie studied at the School of American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, and the University of Michigan School of Art. For over 40 years, she taught at several university art departments, public and private elementary/middle school art departments in Maryland, schools in Mexico, India, the Omega Institute of Holistic Studies in New York, and several retreat centers in Central America.

She currently resides in New Hampshire and has studio space in White River Junction Vermont