Valerie Collymore Finds Artistic Inspiration from Her Unique of Her Childhood in France
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THE HOMELAND VALERIE COLLYMORE FINDS ARTISTIC INSPIRATION FROM HER UNIQUE OF HER CHILDHOOD IN FRANCE YOUTH BY JACK HAMANN t the age of 9, Valerie Harmon was the only “All of a sudden, this hand dived down and pulled up my African-American—and, in fact, the only hand,” she recalls. “At first, she had a severe look. She had no American—at her first day of school at Lycée idea [that I couldn’t] understand a word she’d been saying, de Jeunes Filles in Nice, France. She didn’t and she kept speaking French.” Aknow a soul, and she didn’t speak French. Any other 9-year-old might have melted—but not young Her teacher, Mme. Hémard, began the semester’s first les- Valerie. “I remember thinking, ‘This is hysterical. It isn’t some- son speaking only in French. Scanning the room, she noticed thing frightening. It’s a challenge.’ That’s just how I’m wired.” Valerie, her head bowed as she furtively paged through a Now 59 and living in Bellevue, Washington, Valerie (now Val- small French-English dictionary beneath her desk. erie Collymore) remains differently wired from others. An ac- Valerie should have been terrified, but she wasn’t. complished full-time artist, she is a former pediatrician, a former 34 SUMMER 2015 “Chapel in the morning sun, Bevons in Haute Provence, near Sisteron,” Valerie Collymore athlete, the mother of two high- achieving young women, and the daughter of a unique bon vivant. This story begins with that one-of-a-kind Above: Valerie Collymore mother. In 1965, Sylvia Harmon was a 39-year-old widowed as a child with her best nurse and the mother of 9-year-old Valerie and 12-year-old friend Jane Lepage David. Good jobs and white families were fleeing her Cam- (leaning forward) and den, New Jersey, neighborhood. Vacations often meant vis- Jane’s younger siblings. iting restaurants and motels that refused service because of Right: A recent photo the color of her family’s skin. She wrote increasingly radical of Collymore. ARTBUSINESSNEWS.COM 35 “Fishing Bateau,” Valerie Collymore universe. “We had lots of freedom,” she says. “My best friend Jane and I regularly explored neighboring villages. I was immersed in this amaz- ing culture with so much art. I walked past the Matisse Museum every day on the way to school. I studied concert piano across the street from the Chagall Museum.” Every school holiday, Harmon packed the kids into the car and drove to Rome, Athens, Paris, and beyond. “In her mind, that was the best education,” says Collymore. The American military had a big presence in Europe, including a popular USO in Villefranche-sur-Mer, a picturesque port adjacent to Nice. While visiting there, Harmon met a general’s wife poetry about racial politics and was arrested after refusing who was interested in plein air painting, and Harmon volun- to leave a segregated hat shop. “She was horrified by what teered to drive her to scenic locations. Appreciating Harmon’s was happening in America,” says Collymore. eye and education, the general’s wife insisted that they learn After a series of sleepless, chain-smoking nights, Harmon to paint together. Combining talent with passion, Harmon be- shocked friends and siblings by announcing plans for a Eu- came an insatiable student, taking classes whenever she could. ropean Grand Tour with her kids. Despite pleas from her six She learned acrylics, oils, aquatints, and metallic prints, and brothers, Harmon and her children set sail for Amsterdam. she ultimately excelled in watercolors. Her landscapes were For several months, they camped in a Volkswagen van while eventually exhibited in Monte Carlo and elsewhere. seeing the sights of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. “As she became an artist, my mother started seeing color,” Arriving in Nice, Harmon fell in love with the French Riviera says Collymore. On long drives through the French country- and decided to stay. Weeks later, Valerie found herself in Hé- side, Harmon would sing songs designed to draw her daugh- mard’s classroom. ter’s attention to the subtle hues that she noticed. Lavender Once Hémard realized that her new student couldn’t speak clouds. Turquoise ponds. “The French Riviera has brilliant French, she took a liking to her, as did most of the girls in the light—colors like nowhere else in the world—and intensity of class. They helped her learn the language, and she soon found color that’s just unparalleled,” Collymore says. success in a range of subjects. “I think it was a world-class When she entered high school, Collymore displayed a tal- education at that time, including art.” Collymore says. “I still ent of her own: athleticism. Her track-team sprint times were have a folder from elementary school. They were doing a lot so fast that she was offered a chance to compete for the French of color theory and values, and we were, like, 10 and 11. I was National Team, on the condition that she become a natural- the kid that was always drawing.” ized French citizen. But her mother had other ideas. All along, As her peers back in America came of age in the tumultuous she was determined that both her children would return to ’60s, Collymore experienced an idyllic childhood in an alternate America and enroll in top colleges. Despite Valerie’s athletic 36 SUMMER 2015 talents and affinity for art, Harmon wanted her daughter to pened, which scared me. I thought, ‘I’m a physician, not an study for a degree in pre-med. artist; this is ridiculous.’” As the widow of a veteran, Harmon paid most of her bills For the next year and a half, she felt haunted “by a huge with Social Security and Veterans Affairs (then Veterans magnetic attraction that this was something I was supposed Administration) benefits. Her late husband had started a to do.” She continued taking classes. Paintings poured out. college fund for his chil- Patrons and admirers pur- dren, money that Har- chased several of them. She mon had instead spent “The French Riviera has brilliant sought out—and studied exposing her children to under—master artists. By art and history during light—colors like nowhere else in 2010, she decided she was those trips throughout ready to call herself a full- Europe. But her time the world—and intensity of color time artist. around military brass Collymore is an impres- and other well-connected that’s just unparalleled.” sionist; her medium is oil. American expatriates Although her works in- paid off. Many had attended prestigious colleges and were clude still lifes, her focus is landscapes. Most of her paintings willing to open doors to contacts at their alma maters, espe- are of the French countryside, particularly the Riviera and cially those looking for talented applicants who would also Provence. “The places I paint today … were places I walked,” help those schools become more diverse. she says. “These were places [where] I was a happy child. Collymore was accepted at Radcliffe College, but her These are places we went to with my mom. These are all places mother insisted on Brown University, which offered an ex- that are very meaningful.” perimental seven-year medical program. Providence, Rhode Every year, she spends as much time as she can afford—usu- Island, however, proved too provincial for Collymore. She ally a couple of weeks—in France. On some trips, she visits sites says that Brown’s white professors had low, racially skewed where Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Renoir painted. She heads out expectations of her and that fellow black students ostracized alone in the early morning, experiencing and absorbing color her for her unusual upbringing. “I didn’t even know who Ste- and light. Because she can’t yet spend enough time to paint an vie Wonder was,” she admits. Fed up, she transferred to Co- entire exhibition while visiting, she takes thousands of photo- lumbia, where she flourished in the bright lights of New York. graphs. “They are a reference, but photos lie,” she admits. “They While in med school, she met—and eventually married—fel- never capture exactly what is there. So I really soak it up. I do low student Victor Collymore. After graduation, the two young a lot of looking, sitting in the fields, experiencing. I want to be doctors moved west, eventually landing in the Seattle area, able to remember what it felt like—what the colors looked like.” where they raised two daughters. Both girls excelled in school, There is never enough time. Collymore’s childhood friend became collegiate volleyball All-Americans, and spent time Jane still lives there, and each visit includes a whirlwind of competing on the U.S. National Volleyball Team. Each gravi- meals, memories, and long walks with old friends, including a tated to her own corner of the art world—Jane to music and Jill former classmate or two from Hémard’s schoolroom. A favor- to filmmaking. For 30 years, Collymore put aside her own art. ite novelist, Marcel Pagnol, penned a line that she holds dear: By 2008, both daughters had graduated from college. Now “France is the homeland of my youth.” And art now offers the an empty-nester and no longer practicing medicine, Colly- most meaningful way to embrace those happy memories. more reluctantly accepted a good friend’s invitation to a Seattle Collymore’s unique mother, who had exposed her chil- Women’s University Club art class. “I thought, ‘Valerie, you’re a dren to the world of art at an early age, repatriated from grown-up.