22/05/2026
✨ New Acquisition ✨
We are thrilled to announce that ‘Votives for you II’ (2023-24) and ‘Collective Moments’ (2000/2022) by Veronica Ryan OBE RA have been purchased by the Contemporary Art Society from Alison Jacques Gallery and presented to the University of Hertfordshire Art Collection.
Veronica Ryan OBE RA is one of the UK's leading visual artists. Working primarily in sculpture and assemblage, using a wide range of materials, including bronze, plaster, marble, textile, and found objects, Ryan’s works reflect the natural world around her, and consider ‘multiple conversations’ between ecology, psychology and culture.
‘Votives for you II’ is bronze cast mango, revealing Ryan’s interest in organic forms – fruit, seeds, pods – which has remained constant since the 1980s. Part of a wider series, 'Collective Moments' is a pertinent example of how Ryan mines physical and psychological repositories, reforming the uncovered sediment into sculptural objects and assemblages. The artist’s interest in stacking, gathering and binding objects together, appears as a formal compulsion expressing a desire for order.
University of Hertfordshire Art Collection chose to acquire these two sculptures by Veronica Ryan to celebrate the formidable success of an alumna of the University within the field of contemporary art. Ryan is a key figure in the impressive roster of alumni from the Hertfordshire College of Art and Design which in 1992 merged with Hatfield Polytechnic to become the University of Hertfordshire.
Last year saw the 150th anniversary of the institution, with two major exhibitions held at the University of Hertfordshire and partner institution St Albans Museum + Gallery to celebrate this significant milestone. Ryan exhibited two sculptures as part of the dual-venue exhibition, and now this acquisition into the University’s permanent Art Collection provides a lasting legacy of both the artist’s and the institution’s achievements.
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society with the support of Soo & Jonathan Hitchin, 2025/26
© Veronica Ryan
📸 Michael Brzezinski. Courtesy Alison Jacques
