Sonya Coleman currently works as part of the arts management team at Arts Ceduna, a programme of the Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation. A registered artist herself at Arts Ceduna, Sonya practices as an artist in painting, sculpture and jewellery making. Sonya lived with talented artists all her life. Her mother, Eleanor Coleman, was the first arts centre coordinator of Arts Ceduna when the centre first opened in 2001. Both Sonya’s mother and her uncle, Vernon (Penong) Miller, were strong painters and artists in mural making. Her art teachers Jane Whitelock, Jo Samsonenko, Frewanne Halbert and Marelin Matthews showed her the ropes as her arts mentors. Sonya is inspired by the ocean and the delicate sea life that grows under water. The ocean also serves as a source of raw materials for her artistic practice such as jewellery making and painting. She uses sand and shells that inspire her experimental processes. Born in Ceduna, the Far West Coast of South Australia in 1978, Sonya gained valuable knowledge from both her parents about the ocean and coastline of the Far West. She learned about bush tucker, how to fish and gather sea food. Sonya’s confidence in, passion for and knowledge of the sea and water is transferred into new knowledge that she transfers to the younger generation as a swim teacher, showing them how to read and understand the ocean.
