Valerie Ganz

Ganz grew up in Mumbles of Swansea. She studied art in Swansea then worked as a teacher and lecturer.^[1] In 1973 she left teaching to concentrate full-time on painting.^[2] She developed an interest in the coal mining heritage and industrial landscapes of South Wales, as well as painting prisoners, dancers and nightclubs.^[3]

At one point, Ganz set up a home and studio in Six Bells in Blaenau Gwent, where she spent a year creating art at the Six Bells Colliery, as well as the local snooker hall and chapel.^[3] During the 1980s she spent several days a week underground at 14 coal mines, sketching the miners at work.^[1] Her work was exhibited at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, in 1986, as part of a show called 'Mining in Art' with other well known painters of mining life.^[3]

Ganz also spent a year at the Central School of Ballet where she attended every day to paint and draw the dancers.^[3]

She held her last major art exhibition in 2010 at the Attic Gallery in Swansea.^[1] She was an elected member of the Royal Cambrian Academy.^[4]

Fourteen of Ganz's paintings are held in UK public collections, including the National Coal Mining Museum for England, the National Library of Wales and the National Museum of Wales.^[5]

She died suddenly on 28 September 2015 aged 79, after struggling with ill health.^[6]

• 14 artworks by or after Valerie Ganz at the Art UK site