Vicki Chelf was born in Louisville Kentucky in 1951. At eighteen she moved north
to Ohio to earn a living as an artist model since she could not afford art school.
After three years in Ohio she moved farther north to Quebec, Canada where she lived
in a small mountain community of hippies and artisans. She learned to speak French
and began teaching herself art while selling roses in discos, writing best-selling
vegetarian cookbooks for the French Canadian market, and running a successful health
food store. In 1982, she moved to Sarasota, Florida where she attended the Ringling
School of Art and Design. She graduated in 1989 with a major in fine art and an
award for the best painting in the annual student show. She has had various art
related jobs such as foam carver for the Ringling Brothers Circus, foundry assistant
to the bronze master who did the casting for super-realist sculptor, Duane Hanson,
and assistant prop master for the Sarasota Opera. She has also done her share of
decorative murals, faux finishes, cookbook illustrations and pet portraits.
In 1991 Vicki had her first one-person show in Paris, France at la Galerie Martine
Moisan where she had another one-person show in 1999. She has shown her work at
the Swanson Cralle Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky and at Meridian Art in London,
England. In 2001 she had a one-person show at La Maison du Village in Val-David,
Quebec, Canada.
