Biography of Veronica
This is a work in progress
edit, It is my intention to tell Veronica's complete success story, all of the many challenges she had to overcome to enjoy the success she enjoys today. Many of Veronica's challenges are verifiable, but I must first seek permission before I embellish on these. If you are also a fan of Veronica's work and feel you can contribute to this article please do so.
A nonobjective painter, Veronica is the newest aboriginal artist to make the successful transference of her culture, heritage andpast experiences onto stretched acrylic canvas.Raised near Brabant, deep in the heart of northern Saskatchewan’s remote wilderness, Veronica has a unique senseof her place on Mother Earth. Despite her aboriginal heritage,Veronica has studied art from all cultures and her nonobjective style has been likened to that of Jackson Pollock & Vincent VanGogh.Her connection to Van Gogh, considered by many to be the greatest contemporary abstract painter, transcends beyond the visual element, as he alsohails from a place called Brabant – Zundert, Brabant, the Netherlands.As an nonobjective artist, Veronica’s artistry is not traditional in comparison to other aboriginal art. Yet her culture is very much a driving force in her creative process,making her energetic and chaotic renderings all the more visually appealing. Indeed it isher own unique sense of the world that comes shining through each of her pieces. To understand the motivation and inspiration of Veronica’s art it is helpful to have anunderstanding of the artist’s background. One of 12 siblings raised by northernSaskatchewan Crees, Veronica spent her formative years with her parents on their trap line. There, she often cared for her two younger siblings while the parents were tendingto the trap line.As such, she learned a sense of responsibility and practicality at a young age; her chores consisted of life-sustaining activities. These included gathering firewood, chopping holesin the ice for water, or skinning animals for food or warmth. The resourceful, happy andresponsible youngster carried out these duties willingly, knowing full well failure to do so could have had tragic results.She retained this role as caregiver until she moved into Prince Albert, SK with an oldersibling at the age of 12. Despite limited knowledge of the English language, which she picked up from older siblings when they came home for summer, and having received noformal schooling of any kind, she was placed into the sixth grade to keep her amongchildren her age. Veronica’s intelligence came shining through, picking up the English language adeptlyand quickly. This intellect enabled her to do well in school. Where she excelled, however,was wherever a creative element was required. This held particularly true for art class. Today this contemporary abstract artist transcends her place upon Mother Earth onto herstretched canvas artifacts. Veronica likens the technique for preparing and stretching thecanvas upon which she works to the stretching of hides as a youth. There is an element of chaos to most of Veronica’s works. This could possibly be a resultof the chaotic inner turmoil she has overcome, despite outward appearances suggesting aseamless transition from a traditional Cree upbringing to the Western Canadian culture she now embraces from her Saskatoon, SK home.Veronica has integrated very well into Western Canadian society, although she couldn’thave been raised further removed from this mainstream society. An accomplished Artist, she is an incredible role model for aboriginal youth.
After Reading about Veronica in "Shout" Canada's Aboriginal Youth Magazine, I was inspired to contact her to get more details about her life and story. [1] This article was inspired by a short article written by Mike Gossellin I was able to fill in the blanks of Mike's original story by speaking with elders in Veronica's community of Brabant, Sk. Unfortunately in the tradition of Veronica's people stories are passed on verbally, so many outstanding accomplishments by individuals cannot be verified by written published accounts. Please feel free to learn more about Veronica's remarkable inner strength that has helped her overcome many adversities, and ad to and edit this article.
Uvak38 02:47, 7 March 2007 (UTC)