About the Artist & Family Links

 Scroll down  

www.valscreativedesigns.com     For inquiries or to order write to val:val@valscreativedesigns.com

Val O'Connor has been a resident of South Florida since 1986.  She was raised in Cleveland and Philadelphia, lived in Israel for 2 years and spent a summer in Guatemala.  Attended Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Temple University. Later lived in Toledo, Ohio and Sherman Oaks, Ca. Worked in accounting from 1978 - 2003 and has been working with wood since 1993 and loves the three dimensional quality of it versus the canvas.  She is an editor, website designer and editor, loves taking photographs, loves animals, loves gardening, and plays piano. 

  Val and her son Eric Slate & Magnum                             Tom and Val                                     Eric, Tom, Dustin and Ryan O'Connor

                                                      and Grandchildren:

   

                 Brandon Slate   '04                                       Eric and Brandon Slate      Alexis Slate '05               Alexis '08

Maryland, June 2007

                                                                                       Maryland, Sept. 2006

 

April 2007

Florida, April 2009

Maryland, March 2014

 

Florida, July 2016

Florida, July 2017

Maryland, July 2017

 

 

 

Florida, July 2019

 

Maryland, June 2021

Maryland, June 2021

 

Florida, July 2022

 

Cameron O'Connor, April 2022

 

 

Florida, July 2023

 

Smoky Mountains, Tenn., October 2023

 

 

Smoky Mountains, Tenn., October 2023

 

 

The Smokies, May 2008

 

 

In Memory of Magnum 7/2/92-05/30/08

 

The Smokies, Oct. 2006

 

 

Our new bloodhound puppy, CUJO Jan. 2007       Cujo and Lucky's Page

Almost 2 years later Oct. 2008

Our new puppy LUCKY Dec. 2008

Our new puppy COOPER Sept. 2021     Cooper and Lucky's Page 

Our new dog BAILEY Jan. 2024   Cooper and Bailey's Page 

  

Other websites worth looking at:

in memory of my dad, a great physicist:  Arthur Iberall;  Homeokinetics.org   click here to see  Dad's Spacesuit 

   

"Three things stand out-developing the integrity of self as a human being, learning how to participate in a good family life, and integrating, in a singular fashion, the thrust of a general physical science with all aspects of reality both personal and societal. The first two themes require no special note here. Many have mastered the rules. The third is worth an added comment. Consider the Enlightenment's claim of a unified science capable of dealing with nature, life, humankind, mind, and society. Would it not be worthy of a man's life pursuit. It is. "

 

my mom's paintings page: Helene Iberall and to read about her Helene's life and read a newspaper article Helene 

Article about Yiddish  and a Magazine article Undaunted by Danger and Magazine article about Russian Immigrants.

       

     

Refusniks 1974 Russia, Alexander Lerner and Natan Sharansky                             

Natan Sharansky  (Refusnik 2013 in Calif. meeting again)               

Ross Martin (Marty Rosenberg) (Neighbor)

       

Heidi Klum (client of Cousin who was doing Jordache commercial) 

Sherwood Schwartz (producer of Gilligan's Island and the Brady Bunch (1st cousin)  

Eleanor Roosevelt  

Bella Abzug (N.Y. Congresswoman) (husband Marty best man at wedding)

 

Val's photography and artwork: Fine Art America

 

Val's other website: My Activity Page

 

 

my son, Eric Slate

 

"I was driving home on my motorcycle.  I wasn't going fast on the way home due to a lack of gas.  I just got off the highway and stopped at the light.  A pickup truck pulled up next to me.  Everything was normal.  The light turned green and I pulled the clutch in and put her in first gear.  I gently let the clutch go while I throttled the gas.  As I was making the turn to the left onto the road, I noticed a lady speeding through her red light.  She was inches away from hitting me.  She was so close to hitting me I was looking into her eyes.  She didn't even see me.  Was like she was in a trance.  She slammed into the truck next to me.  I made the turn somehow.  It was a miracle no one died.  I parked my bike and went over to the accident and helped the lady's daughter out of her car.  It made me think how life can be taken from you.  I left after the ambulance and police came.  I celebrated my life with a cream puff and a new outlook on life."     

my sister, a geologist: Norrie Robbins website, Science Explorers Club

     

"The path of least resistance doesn't lead you to happiness, because someone else is in charge."  Dr. Robbins is part of the Indigenous Earth Science Project, which is a public outreach program designed to make Earth Science education more accessible to Native Americans with the goal of building on-reservation earth and environmental science expertise in Southern California reservation communities. Robbins is a biogeologist who has published in palynology, paleoecology, and microbial ecology. Her most recent work is on microbial precipitation of metals from natural sources and coal- and metal-mine discharge.

 

my sister, an artist:  Penni Rubin

 

my sister, a writer: Thea Iberall  

 

The Only Thing Greek About Me is my Name

   

"Writing a poem is like trying to tell a story in as short a space as possible using as many dimensions as possible. It has the essence of a moment: the feelings, characters, and situation all there without any unnecessary words. It is told with sound, texture, images, metaphor, structure, and rhythm. I memorize my poems so that I hear every nuance of each dimension. When it all is working together, then it is complete. Fiction doesn't have to be so terse."

 

  Old Family Photos

In memory of my cousin Jeffrey

In memory of my friend Anita

1969 Class Creator Heights High Reunions 

Whiton Rd.

 

Family in Israel - The Sulkin Family