Sold at Auction: Valerie Hinz

Horse portrait, an abstract expressionist oil painting by well-known Canadian painter of horses, Valerie Hinz (Canadian, b. 1956).

Valerie Hinz lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and had been a professional artist, working in television since 1979. After 21 years, Valerie left her television career to pursue oil painting full time. As a horsewoman, painting horses was a natural direction to go.

One of her earlier commercial exhibitions was with the U.S. Arabian National Horse Show in Louisville, KY. There, she took a tour of Churchill Downs, where she viewed an exhibit of the works by the American Academy of Equine Art for the first time. She eagerly submitted work to future AAEA shows, where within two years, she gratefully accepted the 1992 Gordon Barton Memorial Award for Best in Show. The publicity received from her wins through the AAEA juried exhibitions helped her to become visible to the galleries that represent her today.

The high realism once painted in the seventies has given way to more impressionistic strokes, most always inspired by light, no matter the subject.