The Nohra Haime Gallery announces the unveiling of *The Secret Garden, Gulliver’s Travels and Other Boxes*, a solo exhibition by Valerie Hird that beckons viewers into a captivating realm where time, narrative, and imagination converge. Through mesmerizing book sculptures, both wall-mounted and free-standing, alongside video animations, Hird transcends traditional storytelling, offering a contemporary reimagining of familiar tales.

Valerie Hird's artistic practice spans diverse media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, animation installation, and performance. Her work, characterized by meticulous craftsmanship and boundless imagination, draws inspiration from travel and collaboration. Exploring the history of narrative, cultural mythologies, analog technologies, and craft forms, Hird creates symbol-based artworks that are uniquely evocative.

The multi-sensory experience presented by visual artist Valerie Hird features intricately layered book forms and automata employing two-way mirrors, crank-operated sculptures, and hand-drawn animations accompanied by original soundtracks. Collaborating with composers, ‘cranky’ engineers, lighting designers, naturalists, and tattoo artists, Hird realizes her creative vision through a process of slow, skilled, and passionate handcraft.

Each sculpture in the exhibition bears the hallmark of a three-dimensional book, meticulously wrapped in the original texts of classic tales that inspired the artist's journey into the realms of imagination. From the whimsical adventures of "Alice in Wonderland" to the fantastical realms of "Gulliver's Travels" and the enchanting allure of "The Secret Garden," these sculptures breathe new life into beloved stories, disrupting and re-envisioning their narratives through contemporary text and imagery.

Central to the exhibition are Hird's video animations, including "THE GARDEN OF ABSOLUTE TRUTHS," "MIND LINES," and "UNATTENDED MOMENTS," which engage in dynamic dialogue with the sculptures on display. "THE GARDEN OF ABSOLUTE TRUTHS," commissioned by Burlington City Arts, transports viewers into a philosophical exploration of the elements and the fragility of existence. Through intricate storytelling and captivating visuals, Hird crafts an alternate narrative of intelligent design devoid of human presence, inviting us to contemplate the delicate balance of nature and the impermanence of truth.

As viewers engage with Hird's sculptures and video animations, they become active participants in the unraveling of these narratives. Through the simple act of turning a side crank or pulling a tab, elements within each scene shift, prompting a reinterpretation of the story and challenging the notion of a singular, fixed narrative.

In *The Secret Garden, Gulliver’s Travels and Other Boxes*, Valerie Hird beckons us to journey beyond the confines of time and space, inviting us to explore the infinite possibilities of narrative and imagination. As we immerse ourselves in this transcendent experience, we are reminded that interpretation is never static but fluid, shaped by past experiences, present perspectives, and future aspirations. Join us on this enchanting voyage, where every turn of the page unveils a new chapter in the story of our collective consciousness.

A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, 1977) and Vermont College (MFA, 2007), Valerie Hird is represented by the Nohra Haime Gallery in New York City, NH Galeria in Cartagena, Colombia, and the Furchgott Sourdiff Gallery in Shelburne, Vermont. She served as a Professor of Art at Saint Michael's College and as Professor of Visual Linguistics in the CORE Division at Champlain College in Vermont from 2000 to 2019.