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WELCOME to www.valerieconnelly.com where you will find Valerie's art, music, and books.
Valerie's Music is NOW AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD on Valerie's Music STORE. Use the Music STORE tab above to get there.
MOST RECENT ALBUMS:
TILL TOMORROW COMES
I WISH YOU LOVE
GRAMMIE'S SONGS FOR KIDS
 GRAMMIE'S SONGS FOR KIDS:
Music is the world's universal language, and children respond early to the rhythms and melodies of songs and instrumental music of all kinds. This is a collection of original, wimsical songs composed and performed by Valerie Connelly to reflect the day-to-day life experiences of children. Songs entitled: Carrots in my Bellybutton, Alligator Pool, Halloween, Swing, Swing I love to Swing, I Went for a Walk with Grammie Today, Go to Sleep Lullaby, Diamonds in the Grass and instrumentals that are fun for dancing and generalized movement are all child tested and approved. These are fun and engaging songs that teachers, parents and grandparents can use for interactive play with children of all ages, pre-school through lower elementary grades.
COMPANION TO: The ART of Grandparenting---Loving, Spoiling, Teaching and Playing with Your Grandkids --- Witty, Wise and Wonder-filled Stories for New Grandparents
CLICK ON THIS BOOK COVER FOR MORE INFORMATION
“The ART of Grandparenting” is a wonderful collection of stories, humor and wisdom from several authors. Whether you are a soon-to-be, current, or seasoned grandparent, the author’s real life stories and experiences give you great insight into some good and not-so-good adventures. This was such an easy-to-read and fun book that I look forward to using it as a gift to my friends who will be grandparents. No one tells us how to be parents, much less grandparents. We often think it is an easy job, but we find that we must conform to the parent(s) guidelines, share our grandchildren and learn through each adventure. One of the things I particularly loved about this book is that it was not telling you what to do, but sharing experiences others have had and how they overcame any obstacles they encountered. After each story, there was a wonderful Tips and Tricks page which summarized what one had just read.
 THE GLOWBOX --- a beautiful illuminated box with interchangable faces of BlockArt Prints images etched in gold and silver mirrored plexiglas. The handmade box reminds the viewer of milk glass from earlier times. The images are one-of-a-kind, hand carved block prints created in the Medieval tradition and etched by laser into the mirrored material. The soft light throws no shadows, yet bathes the darkness with a soft glow that allows nighttime navigation of a room without having to turn on a bright light. Perfect for children's rooms as well, since there are no shadows to create strange shapes that can keep a child awake. Images for the holidays all year round, the seasons, florals, birds, animals, fish, scenes, and more. Available at www.glowboxgallery.com or contact Valerie using the contact form on this site to order from the artist.
ART
Valerie took her first and only art classes in the eighth grade. She chose to study French as an elective in high school and as a major college, and so, let her art remain a hobby. Years went by. She founded BlockArt Prints Inc, in the mid-1990’s, and created hundreds of custom-designed, hand-carved block printed images for greeting cards and note cards for Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo, American Express, NASCI, and many small and medium-sized businesses in the Chicago area. She patented the Glowbox, which is an illuminated box that holds interchangeable panels of these images. In 1999, she began painting again and in the intervening ten years, has created a large portfolio of work, STRANGER IN THE WILDERNESS, which continues to expand monthly. The GALLERY here shows the breadth of her paintings, and both originals and prints are available for sale online and directly from the artist. Commissions welcome.
RECENT WORKS: CLOUD SERIES: (Left to right) Colorado Storm, Costa Rican Sunset, Costa Rican Sunrise, Denver Sunset
BOOKS/PUBLISHING/AUTHOR
In 2003, Valerie founded Nightengale Press, now A Division of Nightengale Media LLC and has published over 140 titles so far. More are in the wings. As a book publisher, she has helped many authors from all over the US, Canada, Australia and Europe bring their books to life, and if you want more information about this revolutionary publishing firm, go to www.nightengalepress.com or www.nightengalepublishing.com for more information.
Also, Valerie has authored four titles herself, two novels, a children’s book and a myth-busting guide to the book publishing industry. Most recently, she brought together twenty authors to develop The ART of Grandparenting, which is an anthology of letters to newbie grandparents about Loving, Spoiling, Teaching and Playing with your Grandkids, as the subtitle states.
MUSIC
From her earliest memories, Valerie has loved music. She studied piano for seventeen years, voice for five years, learned to play guitar, and has been composing songs since she was fourteen years old. She has written hundreds of copyrighted songs, ihas been a member of ASCAP since 1987, performed in Chicago and all over the Midwest, as well as in England as a young woman. Her first album was IN THE VIOLET OF THE NIGHT (1969) and sold out at the first concert. She produced another album YESTERDAY'S CHILDREN in 1987. She collaborated on and promoted a full musical (Nothing Is Ours but Time 1996), recorded two albums in the 1990’s: PICKIN' UP THE PIECES and NOTHING IS OURS BUT TIME and continues to write songs and instrumental music today.
Recently, Valerie has produced five new albums: YOUNG AGAIN (2010), GRAMMIE'S SONGS FOR KIDS (2011), THEN & NOW (2011) with new and older songs, I WISH YOU LOVE, (2012) songs about love, winning and losing, and TILL TOMORROW COMES (2012) comprised of all new songs including humour about getting older and living heathfully.
EDUCATOR
Valerie started her teaching career in 1969 in Togo, West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She taught English as a Second Language (ESL) there for two years. She returned to the United States, earned her Masters Degree at Northwestern University in 1981, and taught French Language and Literature from 1974 – 2005 in public high schools, middle schools and community colleges in the north-suburban area of Chicago for twenty-five years. She also taught ESL to immigrant adults in the early 2000’s. She was nominated to the Who’s Who in Education five times during her teaching career, and was elected Teacher of the Year by Phi Kappa Delta, receiving the OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARD 2005, in Recognition for Extraordinary Dedication, Commitment and Service to Education.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVELER
Valerie has traveled extensively in France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Spain, West Africa, and Iran. She traveled in England as a teen. She joined the Peace Corps and lived in Togo, West Africa right after graduating from college. She designed the first curriculum and set up a school teaching ESL in Iran in the early 1970’s before the fall of the Shah. In 1981, she founded the non-profit Overseas Alliance to take American students to France on a month-long immersion language study program which she wrote and taught. During the five years Overseas Alliance was in existence, more than eighty American youth met then President François Mitterrand, who was an acquaintance of Valerie’s from her college and Peace Corps years.
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