In art, when does the encounter end and the narrative begin? Well, it depends. In his talk, Collins will examine the “understory” that carries him forward in his work. From his perspective as an artist, community organizer, and land steward the story develops and evolves. It is a story of place, time, and an ongoing encounter with nature and the natural world.

Artist Statement | Once upon a time, the land where Don Collins now lives and paints was one vast forest. The slow decline in forested areas began here when settlers in the mid-1700s started to clear forests for homes and subsistence farming. By the 1860s, about 55% of the land in New Hampshire had been cleared and enclosed in stone walls built of the rock pulled from the bony soil. After the war, due to a steep decline in wool prices, many farmers abandoned the sheep pastures. They left behind their stone walls and exhausted soil, and not incidentally, big boulders. The boulders were the remnants and reminders of the retreating Laurentide ice sheet that covered parts of North America 19,000 to 26,000 years ago. Pulled from elsewhere, they were deposited willy-nilly as they rolled out from under the retreating glacier. These giants, called glacial erratics, had been an annoyance, but farmers learned to work around them. When farmers abandoned their pastures, the forests reclaimed them. Today, the State is now 83% forested, and these boulders still occupy land under the trees. Glacial erratics and other rocks have become significant elements in Collins’s work. These rocks are a reminder of the permanence of elemental earth and its ability to persevere– as magma, then mountains, then boulders, and eventually, sand and clay. They will continue existing on Earth, with or without humans.

Biography | Don Collins has been painting most of his life and has honed his practice through many long hours spent in the studio. He encourages you to purchase his work because, as he states, “I could use the money to buy more art supplies.”