Valerie Roybal was a native New Mexican, who made a great impact in the local arts community as an artist, curator, editor, graphic designer, collaborator, and bee keeper. She worked with a range of materials, incorporating found objects, vintage photographs, fragments of letters, embroidery, collage elements, and drawing into her work. She was well known for her tireless hunting and collecting of  poignant and eccentric materials from flea markets, antique stores, and library sales. Roybal studied at The University of New Mexico, where she received a BA in Graphic Design. She was a Pollock-Krasner award recipient and curator of the exhibition Cross Pollination at 516 Arts, Albuquerque. Her work was exhibited at Columbia College Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago, the Albuquerque Museum, Richard Levy Gallery, and Tamarind Institute. Roybal passed away in late 2018 after living with stage IV metastatic breast cancer for more than seven years.