Veronica Collins - May 2020 Artist Of The Month
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains images and names of people who have died.
Our May artist of the month is Griffith-born Wiradjuri artist Veronica Collins.
Returning from an artistic hiatus, recent events have not phased her or her rejuvenated creative practice. Veronica views the current COVID-19 epidemic as a welcome change of pace, “I love it. The world has slowed down. Everybody has time. Mother Earth is healing. Good! We should do it every 12 months, everyone should hibernate once a month, every year.”
Veronica’s love for art was initially developed in her youth through watching her “very arty, very crafty” mother. She reinforced her growing interest with the study of art history and says she is, “culturally aware of who I am, what I am. It’s just the history coming through and I’m blessed with a technique from the ancestors that’s been passed through.” Veronica having already explored various other forms of art, decided to seek out and learn from Wiradjuri art specifically: “Instead of looking at mainly the rocks, and the art that was already there from the other areas, I actually delved into Wiradjuri mythology, theology, and went back that way, and faced the traditional course backwards and found the art and the carvings so intricate, so different, and then knowing that a lot of the land was cleared in NSW, a lot of that was taken out... but a lot of that has been recorded.“
Veronica started her art career in the nineties using acrylic on canvas. Throughout her career, she has moved on to explore and incorporate other mediums, as can be seen in her collaborative works with Di Tarr featuring mosaics, at Griffith Regional Art Gallery’s recent ‘Each For Equal’ Exhibition: “What I do is I actually put Mother Earth onto my canvas by using natural fibres. I do use one of my main mediums of sand, and that comes in all different colours, which is amazing in Australia. Go and collect it, I’ve got five different shades at home already! It’s just madness. Mix your own ochres up if you want.”
‘We Have Got To Get It Together Now #1’ Veronica Collins and Di Tarr
‘We Have Got To Get It Together Now #2’ and ‘We Have Got To Get It Together Now #3’ Veronica Collins and Di Tarr
Regarding contemporary material used, she says: “I only use three colours. Prime colours, blue, yellow and red. Because black and white aren’t colours, and I can’t split hairs, and they make everything else. They tell you to buy all different paint colours, well no – make your own. That’s what I tell young people, make your own colours, don’t go buying, it’s just a waste of money, because an artist can’t go and buy their own art.” Reflecting on her personal connection to friends and family of differing backgrounds, Veronica makes the comparison between her chosen colour palette and her views on humanity: “You can’t split hairs, can’t pick one over the other. Just keep it right, simple and true. There’s soul people out there, you don’t know what colour they’re going to come in, or who they are. I don’t see black and white as a colour.”
Veronica uses this mix of mediums and techniques to create her ‘Traditional Contemporary Fine Art’ pieces, exploring various themes, from Traditional story-telling to politics: “’Time’ has buildings which represent the government and everything that’s in Mission management. ‘Time’ is a political art. Whereas my water holes, that’s one of five designs that I do. I do water holes, I do Country, I do Wiradjuri, I do dusty dawn and I do portals. I do my story telling and then I do my animals. I’ve got my ‘Missionary’s Cauldron’ which is probably from 15 years ago. ‘Missionary’s Cauldron’ is a triptych. When the missionaries came, we had to go to church. The middle one is the cauldron where they’ve taken everything away from us. Stripping us of everything, and then we’ve got nothing. Our culture’s gone; we’re not allowed to talk our Language. I do religious ones because I’m interested in the Blake Awards. I really want to do the Blake Awards one year. ”
‘Time’
Her most memorable experience in her long career has been her 2007 exhibition ‘Our Miah Clarkus’ at the now closed Hogarth Gallery Paddington, in Sydney, alongside her contemporaries Sally Morgan and Bronwyn Bancroft.
Griffith Regional Art Gallery’s Manager, Raina Savage notes the importance of Veronica’s work, a vital contribution to the Western Riverina art scene, “Veronica Collins is a leading Wiradjuri artist based in Griffith, whose work is held in galleries and private collections across Australia. Her work explores cultural, historic and socio-political themes, speaking truth to power and asserting and celebrating the unceded sovereignty of First Nations people. Veronica works in a range of mediums, including painting, print-making, textiles and multi-media using a vibrant palette and a rich vocabulary of cultural symbols. Veronica is one of the featured artists in the 2020 inaugural Yarruwala Wiradjuri Cultural Festival.” Veronica will be exhibiting, coordinating a Wiradjuri arts hub, and running workshops in the upcoming festival that will be held at the end of the year.
‘Into The Mystic’
The work Veronica considers to have the greatest significance is publicly viewable. Her goanna design resides on the Welcome To Griffith signs at each of the five main entrances to the city, thus leaving her permanent mark on Griffith. She loves that her goanna watches over and welcomes all new visitors into her hometown.
Veronica has shared her vast knowledge with the younger generation through mentoring local HSC art students. She found it to be a fantastic experience, and it opened up opportunities for her students, with the works of some mentees being exhibited at the Griffith Regional Art Gallery and then later being selected to join the HSC exhibition, which travelled throughout NSW.
She has this advice to say to the youth of today, looking to begin their artistic journey: “Be brave. Be a brave heart. It’s a scary, scary thing. It’s overwhelming. You’re going to stand up in front of people, a lot of people, and they’re critiquing you. They’re judging you for what you’ve done. They think you’re good, maybe they don’t. They’re looking at you. Be a brave heart. It’s personal, your DNA is in there, your mind, your thought, your body. And then you’ve got to present it and you’re chucking it in with other people. It becomes competitive. You then become frightened with yourself. Are you good enough? Am I worth it? Will I? Can I? The doubt hits you. It will come and just attack, attack, attack. Know that it’s ready to come, know that your emotions are going to run here, there, and like I said they’re judging you, you’re standing up there. Be brave, that’s all I can say.
With her artistic career back in full swing, Veronica Collins is looking to the future and is “setting up a whole new system”, working towards projects combining her art with tourism. Please contact Western Riverina Arts if you would like to enquire after one of her very collectable works.
Images and story by Camille Whitehead, Wednesday 6th May, 2020.
