She has been honored by the Philbrook Art Center, received more than 75 major awards and is included in Who's Who in American Art: the Encyclopedia of the American Indian, American Indian Painters. Patricia Broder's Earth Songs, Moon Drawings: Paintings by American Indian Women illustrates a painting called Choctaw Removal that chronicled the reality of the forced removal of the Choctaw People to Indian Territory, referenced as the Trail of Tears. 

Hessing translated old Indian legends into traditional art in a linear style. She was extremely deliberate and took as long as three weeks to complete a painting. Her work combines spirituality, simplicity and harmony with nature. The Institute of American Indian Art presented an exhibition of Valjean's paintings opening on February 1, 2008 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.