BIOGRAPHY

Trina Collins, who works under the pseudonym Poncho Army, is an artist who isn’t afraid to get some paint under her fingernails. Known for her detailed line work, precision cut stencils and signature splatter paint skies, she has appeared in numerous gallery shows, been a finalist in multiple art prizes, and exhibited alongside many leading urban and contemporary artists including Banksy, Kid Zoom, ROA, Beastman, Vexta, Reg Mombassa, Kaff-Eine and Anthony Lister.
In June 2012 ArtsHub named Poncho Army as one of the top ten street artists in Australia. She was the 2013 artist in residence at Wollongong Art Gallery. Her work is held in collections around the world including New York, Japan, London, Dubai, Los Angelas, New Zealand and Australia. The National Gallery of Australia archives Poncho Army’s work and the Standford d.School in California has her art adorning their halls.

The central theme for Poncho Army’s art is the exploration of contrasts – between urban and rural spaces, between internal and external realities, between melancholy and joy. She loves to capture youthful innocence and often draws upon her experiences growing up in a shrinking rural landscape to gather inspiration for her work.

Poncho Army got her start in visual arts by designing posters for her band (she has been a drummer since age 11), followed by attaining a BA in Graphic Design and New Media from UOW in 2003.
Poncho Army works as a visual artist, mural artist and graphic designer. She is experienced in freehand aerosol, stencil art, screen printing, printmaking, typography, brush painting, paste-ups, graphic design and multimedia. Her design skills allow her to create professional digital proofs of all mural concepts to be approved prior to painting, making her one of the most sort after urban artists in Australia. Recently she has painted murals for BOOMDubbo, Fraser Coast Council, Albury City Council, Wollongong City Council, Bankstown Council as well as businesses The Little Prince, Hangtime, His Boy Elroy, Headspace and Family and Community Services.

Securing a 12 month residency at Wollongong Art Gallery in 2012-2013 Poncho Army worked on a 13 piece, 715 print series titled ‘Fight or Flight’. Poncho Army pushed the boundaries of her chosen mediums by combining water based screen prints with the use of hand cut stencils and solvent based spray paint. Many professionals told her the mediums technically could not bond. “I felt like a crazy scientist with numerous beakers of inks on the benches and failed prints scattered on the floor. I knew somehow I would get the water and solvent based paints to work together and in the end I got there. I could almost write a book on the process”.

Since mid 2013 Trina has been running Anchors Aweigh Art Studio in Wollongong, Australia where she teaches workshops in urban, contemporary and graphic art mediums. The warehouse studio also has an arts supply shop, specialising in aerosol and hard to find materials and operates as a design house. She has taught special needs and disability groups, school classes and community groups. The design house side of the business creates everything from logos, branding, websites and custom wall murals and visual art services. For more info check out the website > www.anchorsaweighartstudio.com

Photo by Jake Lapham Photography