CV
Education:
2022: PhD (Art), RMIT University, Melbourne
2012: Master of Fine Arts, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
2010: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours- First Class), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
2009: Bachelor of Visual Arts, Southern Cross University, Lismore.
Awards/Grants/Residencies:
Making Space Residency (Siteworks), Moreland City Council, 2022
Splash contemporary watercolour award, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin, (Finalist) 2021-22
Art Commission - Art in the time of Covid-19, Nillumbik Shire Council, 2020
The Albany Art Prize (Finalist) 2018
The Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize (Finalist) 2016
Keith & Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship (Finalist) 2015
Guest artist in residence, Northcote Pottery, East Brunswick 2015
Artist-in-residence, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris 2014/15
RMIT PhD Scholarship 2014-19
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (Finalist) 2013
New Work Grant (early career), Australia Council for the Arts 2012
Janet Holmes à Court Artist Grant, NAVA 2012
Border Art Prize- 2nd prize, 2012
Power Cité des Arts Residency, Paris 2012
Artist-in-Residence Program, University of Tasmania 2012
Elliott Family Ten Year Collection Acquisitive Award 2011
Popper Family Acquisitive Award 2011
Keith & Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship (Finalist) 2011
Australian Postgraduate Award 2010-2011
City of Melbourne Art Grant (Young Artist Category) 2010
Friends of the Victorian College of the Arts Grant 2010
Dr David Rosenthal Award 2009
National Tertiary Art Prize (Finalist) 2007
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2021
Everything In Its Right Place, @14 gallery, Collingwood.
2017
Hands like water, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
2015
Hunting the far mountain, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Water people from the sky (atelier ouvert), Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.
2013
Wilding, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Leaf & Limb, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah.
2012
Fata Morgana, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.
Power Things, Blindside Artist Run Space, Melbourne.
Silent Stone Singing, Academy Gallery, Launceston.
2011
Shape Shifter, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
Imagining New Colours (New Innovators Program), Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda.
Stranger than Fiction (Souvenirs from the Periphery) NO NO GALLERY, North Melbourne.
2010
Refuse to Surrender, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy.
Biomorphica, C3 Contemporary Art Spaces, Abbottsford.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2023
Whence it came (Curated by Charlotte Watson), Divisions Gallery, Coburg.
Fever'Dreams (Curated by Mitchel Brannan), Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
Falling to earth, Brunswick Temporary, Brunswick East.
2022
Future Tense: Merri-bek Summer Exhibition, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
Blindside B-Side, Blindside, Melbourne.
Hypercolour, Brunswick temporary, Brunswick.
When you think about feminism, what do you think?, George Paton Gallery, Parkville.
2021
Art in the time of covid-19, Montsalvat, Eltham.
Splash contemporary watercolour award, McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, Langwarrin
2020
Moreland Summer Show: Solace and Solitude, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
2019
SPRING 1883 (with Gould Creative), The Establishment Hotel, Sydney.
The Land of Green Ghosts, Broadhurst Gallery, Gymea.
25 Years/25 Artists, Southern Cross University, Goldcoast.
Friends & Family, Daine Singer Gallery, Fitzroy.
2018
This Wild Song Exhibition, GallerySmith, North Melbourne.
The Albany Art Prize, Albany Town Hall, Albany.
Noel Counihan Commemorative Art Prize, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
2017
Noel Counihan Commemorative Award, Counihan Art Gallery, Brunswick.
2016
An Extraterrestrial Experience, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford.
Autumn Exhibition, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
The Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize finalists' exhibition, The Gallery at Bayside Arts & Cultural centre, Brighton.
Heathen, Mailbox Art Space, Melbourne.
Works from the stockroom, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
2015
The Spring Collection, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Strange Neighbour Fundraiser, Strange Neighbour, Fitzroy.
Keith & Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship exhibition, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, South bank.
The Director's Choice, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Shift, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick.
2014
Incinerator Art Prize, Incinerator Gallery, Moonee Ponds.
Sculpture14 Prize, Toyota Community Spirit Gallery, Port Melbourne.
Belle Arti- Chapman and Bailey Art Award, Chapman & Bailey, Abbotsford.
2013
Blob, Strange Neighbour, Fitzroy.
Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship online exhibition
West Space Annual Fundraiser 2013, West Space, Melbourne.
Belle Arti- Chapman and Bailey Art Award, Chapman & Bailey, Abbotsford.
Linden Postcards, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda.
Seventh Fundraiser, Workers Club, Fitzroy.
2012
Rainbow Eaters (Curated by Mitchel Brannan), West Space, Melbourne.
Wild vs Man (Curated by Caroline Phillips), Goodtime Studios, Melbourne.
West Space Annual Fundraiser 2012, West Space, Melbourne.
Winter Warmers, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Neon Forest, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford.
Linden Postcards, Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, St Kilda.
Entry, Brunswick Art Space, Brunswick.
2011
VCA Masters Graduate Exhibition, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank.
Allsorts 2011, Gould Galleries, South Yarra.
Belle Arti- Chapman and Bailey Art Award, Chapman & Bailey, Abbotsford.
Keith& Elisabeth Murdoch Travelling Fellowship Finalists exhibition, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank.
2010
2010 Directors Cut Exhibition, Blake Society's online exhibition.
Tomorrow, Michael Koro Galleries, Melbourne.
Proud, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank.
Black & White: Shades of Grey, Pigment Gallery, Melbourne.
The Feminist Salon: The Envelope, West Wing, Melbourne.
New Releases, Pigment Gallery, Melbourne.
Holes in the Wall, private residence (Special event), Carlton North.
2009
VCA Graduate Exhibition 2009, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank.
Proud to be VCA, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Southbank.
Revolution of Art, Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay.
Graduating Student Award Exhibition, Inner City Clayworkers Gallery, Sydney.
Border Art Prize, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah.
2008
12 x 12 group exhibition, Retrospect Galleries, Byron Bay.
Small Works Show, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy.
Footprints, Next Art Gallery, Lismore.
FEHVA 2008 Art Exhibition, Auction and Prize, A&I hall Bangalow.
Collections in which my work is represented:
Elliott Family Ten Year Collection
Popper Family Collection
Various private collections throughout Australia and England.
Publications:
Valentina Palonen The art of Biophilia: fabricating affective connections between human and nonhuman through figurative art (PhD dissertation 2021), RMIT University, Melbourne.
Valentina Palonen Racing Thoughts 2020, Bulletin 66, Women's Art Register (July 2020)
Valentina Palonen Signs of Life: The Art of Artificial Animism (2012) Master of Fine Arts (Research) Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.
Publications featuring my work:
Jack Sargeant The Rococo Abject and Pastel Transmutations (Exhibition Catalogue) November 2013.
‘Exhibition Brief’ in Art Almanac, August 2013.
‘Artnotes’ in Art Monthly, Dec/Jan 2012-13.
Mitchel Brannan ‘Power Things’ (Exhibition catalogue) Nov-Dec 2012.
Nikita Vanderbyl 'Interview: Valentina Palonen' in Lip Magazine, April 17th, 2012 at http://lipmag.com/arts/art-arts/interview-valentina-palonen/
‘Plastic Fantastic & Sympathetic Magic’ Pageworks of Runway Magazine, November 2011.
Meredith Birrell ‘Playing More’ in The Art Life July 25th, 2011 at http://theartlife.com.au/?p=5392
Laura Skerlj Stranger than Fiction (Souvenirs from the Periphery) (Exhibition catalogue) October 2011.
Trent Walter Linden Innovators 2 (Exhibition catalogue) Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts, June 2011.
Anusha Kenny Valentina Palonen’s Shape Shifter (Exhibition catalogue) Counihan Gallery In Brunswick, February 2011.
Philippa Wallis Holes in the Wall (Exhibition catalogue) Special arts event curated by Theresa Harris, March 2010.
Guest Lectures/Workshops/Professional experience:
Art & Design Technician, Caulfield Grammar School, St Kilda East – current
Wild Watercolour, SIGNAL Studios, Melbourne 2024.
Figures from the Subconscious, SIGNAL Studios, Melbourne 2024.
BSC Artist in Residence, Brunswick Secondary College, Brunswick (Ceramic workshops) 2015
Casting from Nature with Valentina Palonen, Northcote Pottery Supplies, Brunswick East (Workshop) 2015
Recasting the Mandrake: Folklore, Vegetables and Agency, Australian National University, Environmental Humanities Conference (Affective Habitus: New Environmental Histories of Botany, Zoology and Emotions), 2014.
Casting from Nature: An Introduction to Silicone Moulds & Resin Casts (workshop) Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 2013.
Signs of Life: The Art of Artificial Animism (Arts Forum), University of Tasmania, 2012.
Refining Ideas & Actualising Artworks (Guest Lecture), University of Tasmania, 2012.
Silicone Moulds & Resin Casts (Workshop), University of Tasmania, 2012.
Volunteer arts worker, Arts Project Australia, Northcote, 2012.