Vanessa Collingridge BA, MA (born 1977) is an artist whose practice is rooted in drawing and extends into printmaking and related processes. Drawing forms the core of her creative inquiry—both as a means of expression and as a framework for exploring personal experience, resilience, and transformation. Her work reflects an ongoing engagement with the dialogue between intuition and precision, freedom and discipline.
Collingridge’s practice is characterised by a commitment to material sensitivity and technical refinement. While textiles have informed aspects of her approach, they serve primarily to support and enrich her investigations into surface, structure, and the translation of mark into form.
Through a sustained exploration of drawing, Collingridge challenges conventional distinctions between process and outcome, gesture and structure. Her work situates these traditions within a contemporary context, offering a considered reflection on how the act of making can convey both the personal and the shared.
Alongside her studio practice, Collingridge is a dedicated arts educator, committed to fostering creativity, critical thinking, and technical skill in others. Teaching is an integral part of her artistic life—an exchange that continually informs and revitalises her own work. Through guiding students, she deepens her understanding of process, material, and expression, finding new perspectives through dialogue and shared exploration. Collingridge is passionate about the transformative power of arts education and its capacity to nurture confidence, curiosity, and connection. This reciprocal relationship between teaching and making lies at the heart of her practice, enriching both her pedagogy and her work.
Collingridge’s practice is characterised by a commitment to material sensitivity and technical refinement. While textiles have informed aspects of her approach, they serve primarily to support and enrich her investigations into surface, structure, and the translation of mark into form.
Through a sustained exploration of drawing, Collingridge challenges conventional distinctions between process and outcome, gesture and structure. Her work situates these traditions within a contemporary context, offering a considered reflection on how the act of making can convey both the personal and the shared.
Alongside her studio practice, Collingridge is a dedicated arts educator, committed to fostering creativity, critical thinking, and technical skill in others. Teaching is an integral part of her artistic life—an exchange that continually informs and revitalises her own work. Through guiding students, she deepens her understanding of process, material, and expression, finding new perspectives through dialogue and shared exploration. Collingridge is passionate about the transformative power of arts education and its capacity to nurture confidence, curiosity, and connection. This reciprocal relationship between teaching and making lies at the heart of her practice, enriching both her pedagogy and her work.