Barbara Lavallee

Barbara Lavallee has lived in Alaska since 1970, when she moved there to teach art at Mt. Edgecumbe High School in Sitka. Mt. Edgecumbe was a boarding school that served students from all over the state at a time when there were no village high schools. It exposed her to the various native cultures in Alaska. Her experience there enabled her to see village live through the eyes of her students; the result is her idealized, stylized imagery that celebrates the joy, resilience, and the hard work that characterizes their lives.

Her work is done in transparent watercolor. She focuses on people, rather than landscapes (although the Alaskan landscape is stunning), and she loves to play hot colors against a white background.

Adapted from barbaralavallee.com