“I think I have artistic genes.” The family line of collage artist Bonnie Coad can take a little credit as it seemingly churned out many artistic and musical family members before her. Growing up isolated without electricity on the West Coast probably also played quite a major part too.
With electricity being a creature comfort for most growing up, Bonnie decided to find creative ways to keep herself occupied. “If I didn’t have my head buried in a book I’d draw for hours, make up music on my mother’s old piano or create model worlds with plasticine. “My art teachers at high school told me I was good and I needed to apply myself, but high school was all about socialising for me. “My family wasn’t well off, so going to art school didn’t seem like a reality to me but in my early twenties, on a whim, I brought some paints and started painting. Once I had started I couldn’t stop. I became a bit obsessed with it all and would take out great stacks of art books from the library and lose myself in them. “I took some night classes at my local high school and started visiting galleries and art shows. Participating in my first exhibition clinched the deal for me and there was just no turning back – I just couldn’t stop making art!” It comes as no surprise that with the ability to create from a young age and having to entertain herself, Bonnie found herself immersed in layer upon layer of texture-based artwork – with mixed media collage being her medium of choice, with animal’s often featuring.”
See more about Bonnie here.
