Founder and owner of the Janus Press, and a leading force in the production of artists' books for more than 40 years, Van Vliet was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1933. Part of Van Vliet's childhood was spent near Stonehenge where her father was stationed as a pilot , and then later, back in Cananda near Banff in the Canadian Rockies. These surroundings with their significant rock formations and weather blasted trees had a lasting influence on her work. Using the print mediums of lithography, vitreograph ( a method of printing from a glass plate etched by sand blasting and acid ), etching , and woodblock printing, Van Vliet has transformed this imagary into highly textured surfaces that capture all the drama inherent in these landscapes. A resident of northern Vermont since 1966, Van Vliet has also captured the familier mountain ranges of the northeast kingdom. In 1989 she was awarded the prestigious McCarthy Prize Fellowship, a 5 year award that further allowed her to pursue her fascination for dramatic landscape with travels to Australia, New Zealand , American Southwest, and the tombstones of Ireland.