Artist Statement
Painter | Printmaker | Workshop Facilitator
📧 victoria_collis@hotmail.com 🌐 Instagram
Victoria Anne Collis, MA is a painter and printmaker based in rural Somerset. Her love of creative expression began with an early childhood memory of making potato prints with her mother, sisters, and brother.
After beginning her education at a convent school, Victoria went on to earn a BA in Creative Arts from Bath Spa University and an MA in Fine Art (Printmaking) from Aberystwyth University, Wales, in 2019.
During her time in Wales, her work became deeply influenced by the landscapes she travelled through, reflecting both Welsh and English countryside scenes. Residencies in Canada (Crowsnest Pass, 2019) and Sweden (Nordingrå Konstby, August 2024 & August 2025) have further developed her practice, exploring the relationship between land, memory, and imagination.
Her Nordic-inspired works also draw from her Irish heritage, connecting her to ancestral landscapes and the mythic atmosphere of Northern Europe. Victoria’s paintings and prints capture the spirit of place—the flow of waterfalls, the stillness of mountains, and the transient light across land, sea, and sky.
Working from observation, memory, and imagination, her practice is free, gestural, and expressive. Preferred techniques include drawing, monoprint, etching, drypoint, and painting.
Victoria believes that being an artist is a lifelong journey of attunement -listening to one’s inner rhythms and translating them into visual form. Her lyrical approach descends from the Romantic tradition and resonates with voices such as Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, W.B. Yeats, Alfred Tennyson, and Joni Mitchell.
During her residency at the Gushul Studio in Alberta, a simple stick found by Star Creek became her most trusted drawing tool – an emblem of gratitude for nature and its quiet gifts.
During my Gushul Studio Artist Residency, a stick I found in Star Creek became my best tool to draw from! This a written entry in my journal recording my find! Thank you nature, Thank you trees.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ahdF-F4zq/
Victoria Anne Collis recording the site at Star Creek Falls, Alberta, Canada 2019
About / Profile
Profile:
- Visual Artist | Painter | Printmaker
- Postgraduate in Fine Art (Printmaking)
- Focused on landscapes, open spaces, and manmade elements
- Experienced in facilitating workshops for children and adults
Skills:
- Workshop facilitation for all ages
- Printmaking and painting techniques
- Microsoft Office proficiency
- Touch typing & excellent communication
- Full UK driving licence
Interests:
Nature, drawing, painting, printmaking, reading, music, foreign films, history, astrology, reiki, alternative medicine, old monastery ruins, trees
Education
- Aberystwyth University – MA Fine Art (Printmaking), 2017–2019
- Bath Spa University – BA (Hons) Creative Arts, 2:1, 2013–2014
- Wiltshire College – Foundation Degree in Applied Arts, 2011–2013
- Wiltshire College – BTEC National Diploma in Art & Design (Multi-disciplinary), 1991–1994
Residencies & Creative Projects
Residencies:
- Nordingrå Konstby, Sweden – August 2024 & August 2025
- Gushul Studio, Alberta, Canada – June 2019
- Stiwdio Maelor, North Wales – April 2017
- Brisons Veor Charitable Trust, Cornwall – February 2015
Creative Projects:
- Themed Life Drawing Workshops, Bath Spa University – March 2014
- Work Placement, Sue Burns Art School – April 2013
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions:
- Artist of the Month, Cheese and Grain, Frome, Somerset – April 2015
Group Exhibitions:
- The Black Pig Studio, Station Gallery – November 2024
- Inside Out, 44AD Artspace, Bath – June 2021
- Masters Show, Aberystwyth School of Art – September 2019
- Perceptions, Circa 5, Shaftesbury – November 2018
- Still Artist Collective, Number 55 Gallery, Bruton – March 2016
- Edition 1, 44AD Artspace, Bath – April 2015
- Degree Show, Bath Spa University – June 2014
- Libertas, 44AD Artspace, Bath – March 2014
- Something Else, 44AD Artspace, Bath – May 2013
- Silk Mill, Frome – April 2013
Employment & Voluntary Work
Employment:
- Black Pig Printmaking Studio, Frome – Studio Assistant, 2019–Present
- Aberystwyth Arts Centre – Gallery Assistant
- Life Drawing Workshops, Mells Barn – Facilitator
- Hauser & Wirth Somerset – Gallery Invigilator
- Theatre Royal Bath – Workshop Assistant
- Transmit Records Ltd – Administrative Assistant
- Royal Photographic Society – Receptionist/Administrator
- Theatre in the Downs – Design Assistant
Voluntary Work:
- WWOOF, Canada (March–August 2003) – Organic farm work
- Nordic Children’s Workshop, Nordingrå Vallen School, Sweden (Sept 2025) – Facilitating nature-inspired workshops for children
Grants & Awards
- David Canter Memorial Fund