Love Your Crooked Neighbour; painting by Verona Nicholson

Originally from the Pacific Northwest of the U.S., Verona Nicholson has had the great privilege of living in New Zealand for over 20 years. As a counsellor, she uses art and imagery therapeutically. She takes her painting inspiration from the delights, vexations, confusions and wounds arising in both her internal and external worlds. Verona spends her free time making art, treading the boards at community theatres and writing short stories and plays.

Twenty years ago, in Santa Cruz, California, one could buy used cigar boxes for 25 cents. That’s when Verona started exploring her love for miniatures, found-object assemblage and collage. Adding to that a touch of the fantastic and bizarre, she began creating these art/collage boxes. They are fuelled by a sense of curiosity, frustration, admiration, insight and sometimes rage.

A friend of Verona’s affectionately calls them ‘Disturbing Dioramas’!

In October 2019 Verona was struck by a line from a poem by WH Auden called ‘As I walked Out One Evening’: Love your crooked neighbour with your crooked heart. She was inspired to start a series based on this theme. She had no idea it would become so relevant to our lives today.

Art is her saving grace.