Toni Vallance

Born in Aotearoa New Zealand and now based in Naarm Melbourne, Toni is an emerging visual artist focusing on layered, abstract mixed-media painting. Toni's work investigates colour, texture, and gesture as forces that go beyond traditional representation, engaging with feminist ideas of embodiment, materiality, and intra-action (things continuously forming through interaction).

Though art was always part of Toni's childhood, it wasn’t an obvious career choice, and she was encouraged to pursue a more conventional path. After earning degrees in Business and Health Science, she spent over a decade building a career in those fields before following a deep, intuitive desire to create art.

In 2017, Toni completed a drawing course and spent time living and working in New York, which significantly influenced her artistic development. Toni began exhibiting in 2023, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) with Distinction from RMIT University in 2025, and received the Chapman and Bailey Award for Excellence in Contemporary Painting. In 2026, she will complete the esteemed Honours program at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).