Career
She trained at the West Surrey School of Art and Design and the Farnham and Walthamstow College of Art, London. Her first major solo show was at Gallery 181, curated by Alan Haydon in 1983. Her first major installation was commissioned by John Gill for the Royal Festival Hall in 1984.
An installation at the De Louisiana Warr Pavilion took place in 1985.
Since then she has had more than 100 exhibitions in England, North America, the Philippines (with British Council Support), France, Berlin and Ireland. Vanilla Beer was a part-time lecturer at Lewisham College and Greenwich University, at Paris"s Sorbonne and Cité University, occasionally at central London art schools.
She was a reviewer for "The Art Book" from 1997–2000. In 2006 essays on Vanilla"s work written in English and French were published in by Beatrijs Lauwaert, Liane Language and Ian Bolton (edited by Tony Mann), designed and produced by Roger Kohn and published by Peacock University Press and Artescape Foundation. shows the essays alongside Vanilla"s paintings.
(2013), an illustrated book with text by Zoey Goto, covers Beer"s recent work which combines real life and myth.
