Paul Collins--an original American artist

Paul Collins knows exactly who he is, having been born and raised in the smalltown atmosphere of Grand Rapids, Mich., by his loving mother, where he made strong life-long friendships. Eagle Scout, athlete, cheerful, willing to please and help, not the best student, but always with sketch pad and pencil in hand, drawing his friends, family and everything around him. His talent was with him from the beginning.

Collins knows where he is from. His family in America began with a strong and beautiful woman, sold from the auction block in New Orleans to a man from Owensboro, Ky., who transported her to the banks of the Ohio River where she bore him seven children. His family was conceived in the turmoil and sadness of the times.

Collins' restless energy pushed him to work with his art early in his life. He sold small paintings to the summer trade at Michigan lake shores and started a sign painting business with his mentor and friend, Randy Brown. Winter and summer, they painted everything from giant billboards to Benjamin Franklin holding a bolt of lightening to the delicate logos on the trucks of Meijer grocery stores. He knew his talent, he honed his craft, he took his gift and ran through the doors openWith the help of Rich Devos and other Grand Rapids businessmen, he traveled to Africa where he began his unique method of presenting art - the creation of paintings in series, studies of the people and region in which they live. It is fitting that his works began in the continent of his great-grandmother with the "Black Portrait of an African Journey" series.

Collins' years with the Ogala Sioux speak of the sadness of reservation life, while at the same time etching the dignity and pride of the Native Americans. In the next years, the "Faces of Israel" show us the old combatants of religious war; we are drawn to the similarities of the people who will ultimately solve the problems of the past. The "American Portrait of Japan," 20 major paintings of traditional Japanese subjects, introduces us to the young and old of the Far East.

Collins remains one of the few artists who has the energy and focus to complete a far-ranging and important subject involving a multiplicity of works. His "America at Work" series, which hangs in the grand mezzanine of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, should not be missed: 25 major works representing working men and women --teachers, laborers, religious leaders, farmers and housewives all of which hung at the Department of Labor in Washington before returning home to their permanent residence.

Collins introduces us to hundreds of people through his paintings: President Gerald Ford, Mayor Dennis Archer of Detroit, "Great Beautiful Black Woman" special olympians, astronauts, and fugutive slaves traveling the Underground Railroad.

Collins is now working on a project for the Art and History Museum in Key West, Fla., and a complex far-ranging project in Mexico. He is honored to have designed the Martin Luther King Peace Prize, a medal awarded each year. But his greatest joy is when he can introduce us to the ordinary people of the world.

Paul Collins is indeed an original American artist and a treasure.

Robert Davidson will donate his fee from article to the United Negro College Fund.

Copyright Crisis Publishing Company, Incorporated Jul/Aug 1999
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