Artist Statement

One of the Amber M. Valette's ancestral lineages comes from the Alsace region of France. While she was born and raised in California, her maternal grandparents often referred fondly to what connection they still felt to French heritage, especially in regards to the strong arts and intellectual life of French culture. As Amber explored further the diverse aspects of her broader European-American heritage and its origins in late medieval, early modern and Enlightenment-era European cultural changes, she gravitated towards the imagery of roses in the French imagination as symbolic of the resilience of life and beauty even during, as well as after, traumatic strife. The presence of the paternal figure in this art interrelates with the typically feminine imagery of the rose. France, America and other regions which have experienced tremendous progress in women's rights and increased quality of life for the general population continue to be epicenters of the ongoing exploration of paths to harmony between diverse feminine and masculine experiences, identities and social values. The woman whose side profile is featured here is Valette herself around the age of twenty-three in 2013. The owl, symbolic of wisdom, watches over our human questioning. Through all, Valette holds that there remains a bright river of aliveness behind and beneath all human experience, cultural and individual, which shapes our days and centuries. 

Biography

Amber M. Valette is an ecopsych-focused writer, artist, therapist & life coach in

California. Her work has been published in Ruminate Magazine, Glass Mountain literary journal, Brickplight, Illuminations literary magazine, Stonecoast Review literary arts journal, and Ragazine. Connect with her at www.wellintheworld.com

Instagram: @amber.mv_well.in.the.world

Bluesky: @realambermv.bsky.social