MEET VERONIKA OLIVIER
CONNECT WITH VERONIKA
My name is Veronika Olivier. I am a South African living in a small town south of Johannesburg in a hundred year old house. My husband currently works in Botswana so I am constantly on the road between the two houses.
My studio is based at our home in South Africa from where I do most of my work. I am not an artist who is content to work in one medium or style; my work ranges from whimsical and folk art mixed media paintings, figurative portrait studies, expressive clay figures and elaborate textile sculptures.
I have been an artist all my life but have only practiced it full time for the last 4 years. My inspiration comes from visual experiences, memories and imagination. As an avid recycler I use things from around the home, including plastics, old clothes, boxes, tea bags, etc. I source materials from second hand and charity shops, textile waste from designers and gather anything I can get my hands on. There is nothing pre-planned about my processes. I rely entirely on my creative instinct.
My love for beautiful textiles and my constant curiosity to explore new things evolved into the birth of my extraordinary mixed media textile creatures. My ideas change and develop as the work progress and I allow each piece to evolve and take on a life of its own. Every character has a name and a story.
At the moment I enjoy sculpting and focus on my textile creatures and clay figures which is often combined with found objects.