CV

Artist Statement
Victoria Anne Collis is a Painter and Printmaker who resides 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 her first steps into education began at a Convent School, Victoria furthered her creative aptitude by graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Arts at Bath Spa University and a Master’s degree in Fine Art, specialising in Printmaking at Aberystwyth University, Wales in 2019.

It was during her time at Aberystwyth that her work began to reflect and become inspired by the changing and varied landscapes that she travelled through, resulting in works reflecting the Welsh and English landscapes.

A residency to Canada in 2019 also inspired a collection entitled Somnium Terr, which is Latin for Dream land. Victoria drew her inspiration from the sleeping land of our native American ancestors, particularly for the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta Canada. The land was originally frequented by the North American Indians, the Blackfoot tribe.

Her aim was to capture the essence of this landscape…the flow of the waterfalls and the stillness of the mountains.

Painting semi-abstract landscapes, working from direct observation, memory and imagination; my work is free, gestural and expressive. Preferred techniques; drawing, printmaking, etching, drypoint and painting.

Victoria is looking at surface; a play of surface, a tension between the perception of land/sea/sky.

She believes that being an artist is a never-ending journey of communicating with one’s rhythms and channeling these feelings onto paper and with all good images, there is a lyrical narrative that descends from the Romantic School – ‘everything stems from nature.’ This principle I share with fellow kindreds – Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, W.B. Yeats, Alfred Tennyson, and Joni Mitchell.

Profile
Visual artist; painter, printmaker and Postgraduate in Fine Art; interested in drawing from natural sites, open space, open mind, landscapes with manmade element. Running art workshops within the community.

Education
Aberystwyth University 2017- 2019
Master in Fine Art

Bath Spa University 2013-2014
BA (Hons) Creative Arts 2:1

Wiltshire College 2011-2013
Foundation Degree in Applied Arts

Wiltshire College
BTEC National Diploma in Art & Design 1991-1994
(Multi-disciplinary)

BTEC National Diploma (Multi-disciplinary)

Employment History

Frome Art School Workshop Facilitator May 2023 – Present
Silk Mill West and Practitioner
Merchants Barton
Frome
BA11 1PT

Black Pig Printmaking Studio Studio Assistant
Long Ground
FROME
https://www.blackpigprintmakingstudio.com/

Studio assistant at Black Pig Printmaking Studio. I help set up workshops, all age groups in with Intaglio presses. Maintain the studio space, keep tidy, make sure it is well stocked with the Materials. Reorder supplies and assist the students if needed.

Aberystwyth Art Centre Gallery Assistant
Aberystwyth
Wales
Gallery assistant for contemporary art Centre in North Wales. My role was to inform visitors, if required, about the different exhibitions, look after the gallery space and administration of events. Make sure it is a safe and happy environment. (Part time position)

Life Drawing Community Workshops Facilitator
Mells Barn
Somerset
Workshop facilitator for themed life drawing session at the Mells Barn. I organised and ran alternative life drawing sessions based on different narratives such as: ‘The Candle Lit Caretaker’, where the model entered the room sweeping the floor and took his boiler suit off and became the model for the participants to draw! Whilst drawing to candle light.

Hauser and Wirth Somerset, Gallery Invigilator
Durslade Farm, Dropping Lane,
Bruton
Gallery Invigilator for international gallery, specialising in contemporary art. My role was to inform visitors, if required, about the different exhibitions, look after the gallery space. Make sure it is a safe and happy environment. (Part time position)

Transmit Records Ltd Administrative Assistant
120 Frankleigh
BRADFORD-ON-AVON, BA15 2PF

General Administrative Assistant. For a small, independent one artist record label. I assisted with all aspects. I dealt with general enquiries, contacted venues, contacted booking agents, assisted with press. Collated material and sent out mail shots for artist’s promo.

Royal Photographic Society Receptionist/Administrator
Milsom Street
BATH
Receptionist/Administrator. This was a varied role my main responsibilities were to deal with the members of the public either directly or by telephone. Collating and sending out of information. I was also responsible for the security of building. My other duties included managing the utility of the workshop and darkroom.

Theatre Royal Bath Ltd Workshop Assistant
(Educational Department)
Sawclose, Bath
(Occasional position mainly weekends)

Springboard workshop assistant. Springboard was set up to inspire and educate children through various workshops such as drama, music, dance, comedy and circus. Organising skills were essential for this role, and a sound appreciation of health and safety was important. I would assist with the different needs of the current practitioner, children and parents. I was responsible for registering all the children for the workshops and ensuring that their environment was a safe and happy one. I also evaluated and documented each workshop.

Theatre in The Downs Design Assistant
The Olympiad, Monkton Park
Chippenham, Wiltshire

Design assistant. Working as part of the design team mainly painting and making props as well as maintaining them for the duration of the shows. I have also been into schools to assist with children and the making of their 3D projects, as part of the Theatre
in the Downs community project.

VOLUNTARY WORK

World Wide Organisation of Organic Farms March 2003 – August 2003
(WWOOF)
This was voluntary work. I worked on organic farms extensively across Canada. I learnt to appreciate and understand alternative cultures and our environment.

Skills
Touch typist
Proficient with standard Microsoft Word Ofice applications.

Excellent communion skills: working well within a group or independently.

Work shop facilitator all age groups.

Full UK driving licence.

Grants/Bursaries Awarded
David Canter Memorial Fund

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
Cheese and Grain Artist of The Month April 2015
Market Yard,
FROME, Somerset,
BA11 1BE
http://www.cheeseandgrain.com/cheese-grain/april-artist-of-the-month-victoria/

Group Exhibitions

Inside Out – A painting and printmaking exhibition connecting with natural world – June 2021
44AD Artspace
4 Abbey Street
Bath

Aberystwyth School of Art – Masters Show – September 2019
Aberystwyth
SY23 1NG, Wales

Perceptions – November 2018
Circa 5
Shaftesbury Art Centre
13 Bell Street
SP7 8AR

Still Artist Collective – March 2016
Number 55 Gallery
55 High Street
BRUTON
Somerset

Edition 1 – April 2015
44AD
4 Abbey Street
BATH BA1 1NN

Degree Show – June 2014
Bath Spa University
Dartmouth Avenue Studios, BA2 1AS

Libertas – March 2014
44AD Artspace, 7b Lower Borough Walls,
BATH
BA11 1QR

Something Else – May 2013
44AD Artspace,
7b Lower Borough Walls,
BATH
BA11 1QR

Silk Mill – April 2013
Merchants Barton, Frome,
Somerset BA11 1PT

Residencies
The Gushul Studio Residency Program through
University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, June 2019
I created a series of monoprints inspired from an artist residency in the Crowsnest Pass area of Alberta Canada. The land was originally frequented by the North American Indians, the Blackfoot tribe.
My aim was to capture the essence of this landscape…the flow of the waterfalls and the stillness of the mountains.

The land was originally frequented by the North American Indians, the Blackfoot tribe.

My aim was to capture the essence of this landscape…the flow of the waterfalls and the stillness of the mountains.

Artist residency with Stiwdio Maelor in North Wales, April 2017
https://stiwdiomaelor.com/visiting-artists/artist-in-residence-2017/victoria-collis-and-roz-mascall-england/

Artist residency through Brisons Veor Charitable Trust, Cornwall, Cape Cornwall. 7th to13th February 2015. Where I concentrated on producing work, mainly sketches and paintings of the Cornish coast.
http://brisonsveor.org.uk/victoria-collis/

Creative Project Themed Life Drawing
As part of my Creative Project at Bath Spa University, I organised and ran a series of alternative life drawing workshops; encouraging people to make marks within a fun, free and creative environment.
March 2014.

Work placement at Sue Burns Art School, an independent art school running courses in drawing and painting.
April 2013

Interests
Nature, drawing, painting, printmaking, reading, music, foreign films, history, astrology, reiki, alternative medicine, old ruins of monasteries. Trees.