Colored Pencil Society of America DC 201 | Members' Art Gallery

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GALLERY HOME
Pat Averill, CPSA
David Billingsley
Carmel Campbell
Kelly Collins
Kerry J. Forgue
Helen Fortner
Barbara Gleason
Valerie A. Gogoleski, CPSA
Colette Griffiths
Sherry Hanson
Judi Marsh-Garrity
Mary McLaughlin
Kristi Mitchell
Kay Schmidt, CPSA
Do Mi Stauber
Terry Tallis
Wendy Thompson, CPSA
Sharon Withers
CJ Worlein

Gallery Links

Kelly Collins

I was born in a small town in Michigan (South Haven) on October 10, 1964. My first love was animals. My second love was music. I didn’t find art until my early 20’s. My boyfriend at the time painted in his spare time and he encouraged me to join him. So, I did. It became my third love. I decided to pursue a career in art and began the curriculum at Henry Ford Community College. While in college, other things began to pique my interests and I followed. I graduated from HFCC with an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts in 1993.

At this point, I decided to pursue my love of animals and went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Originally, I majored in zoology. Unfortunately, I worked in a zoology lab in which animals were routinely killed. I realized that I didn’t have the constitution for it. I also worked for the USDA Forest Products Laboratory in Madison at the time and there I was introduced to fungi. This turned out to be my fourth love. I graduated from U-W Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany in 1997.

I followed the study of fungi to San Francisco State University. I went to the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali for a month in 1997 and 1998 to study tiny, but very beautiful, mushrooms. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Evolutionary and Systematic Biology in 2000.

I then moved on to Oregon State University. I studied the population genetics of chanterelle mushrooms in the Coast and Cascade Mountain Ranges. I graduated with a PhD in Forest Science in 2005.

I then took a job at the Oregon State University Plant Clinic where I worked for 2-1/2 years before I decided “I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!” The academic life was never for me.

There wasn’t a time when I didn’t have that box of Prismacolors in my closet in the back of my mind. While in school or working, I seldom had time to draw and it was wearing on me psychologically. As soon as I quit my job, I began drawing again. In 2007, I learned of the Colored Pencil Society of America and joined. It has been an amazing learning experience for me ever since.

Contact Kelly Collins:

Web site: www.fillpress.com

E-mail: kpcollins5@mac.com

Phone: 541-231-1916

Permission for use of any image in this gallery or on this Web site is required.