Biography

Education

1941 Born Armagh
1945-52 Blundell’s Grange Primary School
1952-58 St. Patrick’s College, Armagh
1958-59 Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Armagh
1959-61 Belfast College of Art
1961-65 Edinburgh College of Art

Awards

1960 Belfast College of Art. Staff Association Prize
1961 Taylor Scholarship for Watercolours
1961 Royal Dublin Society Awards for Lithography, Landscape & Watercolours
1962 Andrew Grant Bequest. Prizes for Head Drawing & Life Painting
1963 Edinburgh College of Art. Awarded Diploma
1963 Andrew Grant Bequest. Post-graduate Scholarship
1964 Edinburgh College of Art. Awarded Post-Graduate Diploma
1964 Andrew Grant Bequest. Minor Travelling Scholarship (Italy)
1964 Clason-Harvie Bequest. Travelling Scholarship (Paris & Florence)
1964-65 Andrew Grant Bequest. Major Travelling Scholarship (One Year in Spain & Morocco)
1965 Edinburgh College of Art. Awarded Travelling Scholarship
1966 Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Short Visit Award (Paris)
1968-69 Arts Council of Northern Ireland Subsistence Award (Spain, Morocco and Algeria)
1995 British Council Travel Award to Italy
1995 Arts Council of Northern Ireland Bursary for exhibition in Italy
1995 Armagh City and District Council Italian Exhibition Grant

Commissions

1964 Mural for Baptistery of Loughmacrory old Chapel, Co. Tyrone (now demolished)
1970 ACNI poster design
1970 ACNI Ulster Faces (portrait of JG Devlin)
1978 ACNI silk-screen Print Commission
1982 BBC Images of Ireland

Publications and articles on JB Vallely

Blooming Meadows – the World of Irish Traditional Musicians (eds. Charlie Piggott, Fintan Vallely, Nutan; Town House & Country House, Dublin, 1998)
Armagh Voices – A Celebration of a Century – The Vallely Family (ed. Pamela Rea).
A Work of Art (hardback, publication for 40-year retrospective, Armagh; Emer Gallery Belfast, ed. Fintan Vallely, 1999).
100 Years of Irish Art (Millennium publication, 2003; ed. Eamonn Mallie)
Irish Arts Review 2003 (feature by Brien McAvera).
The Irish Times, feature by Siobhán Long
Irish Runner, feature by Brendan Hackett
The Rough Guide to Irish Music (ed. Geoff Wallis; 2001)
The Companion to Irish Traditional Music (ed. Fintan Vallely; 1999)
The Encyclopedia of Ireland (ed. Brian Lalor)
St. Patrick’s City – the Story of Armagh (ed. Alf McCreary, Blackstaff Press)

Book References

1977 ‘Art in Ulster 2’ by Mike Cato published by Blackstaff Press
2010 ‘Dictionary of living Irish Artists’ by Robert O’Byrne published by Plurabelle Publishing
2011 ‘Island of Shadow’ Irish Poets across the Centuries with paintings by celebrated Irish Artists by Brian Lawlor published by Gill & Macmillan

Media and Television

1967 RTE Documentary on Visual Art
1972 ‘In Two Minds’ BBC TV Film
1980’s ‘The Chieftains’ Series RTE
1999 ‘Images of Ireland’ and ‘Léargas RTE Feature on J B Vallely Paintings
2008 ‘Sé Mo Laoch’ TG4 Series featuring the artist's painting and sporting achievements in the context of the music of the Armagh Pipers Club

Events

2001 – ‘Poet, Piper & Painter performance with Seamus Heaney and Liam O'Flynn in the Waterfront Theatre, Belfast
2014 – ‘Poet, Piper & Painter performance in The Navan Centre – Armagh
2014 – ‘Poet, Piper & Painter’ performance in the Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre