Michael Collins, MFA

Education

• MFA, Studio Art, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX. Recipient of the Meadow Scholarship and Teaching Assistantship.
• BFA, Art, University of Houston

Courses Taught

• Painting all levels
• Drawing
• Design
• Methods and Materials
• Painting Senior Seminar
• Art Appreciation
• Experimental Painting
• Color Theory
• Graduate Painting
• Graduate Seminar
• Experimental Graduate Painting
• Graduate Portfolio and Thesis Seminar

Teaching Focus

Mr. Collins’ teaching focus is on introducing college students to the field of art and to social and creative thinking within a Christian context. In addition, he is dedicated to the further advancement of HCU art majors and to advanced graduate study in studio art. Currently as Artist in Residence for Painting his teaching load is primarily centered with the MFA graduate student population.

Publications

2013
Beyond Earth Rhythms, LewAllen Galleries Railyard, Santa Fe, N.M., ISBN 978-0-9858492-8-2

2012
Western Sequels -Art From the Lone Star State, Nov. 7, 2012,/ January 2013, curated by Mr. Gus Kopriva Director of Redbud Gallery Houston TX. and Dr. Vanessa Theodoropoulou, Art Critique and professor, Sorbonne, Paris France. Group Exhibition of Texas Art , The Athens School of Fine Arts, Color catalogue picturing, Arcadian Baths, 2007, oil on paper on board, 45” x 36”. Essays by Dr. Theodoropoulou  and Mr. Gus Kopriva.

2011
Go West Exchange exhibition, French and Texas Artists in a two city exhibition exchanging in dialogue in both Paris France and Houston Texas, 200 page color catalogue, essays by Gus Kopriva director Redbud Gallery, Jim Edwards Artist Curator in Residence Director of the UAC Gallery Houston Christian University and Toby Kamps Senior curator of the Menil Museum. Full color-catalogue. Picturing in color the study, Bridge Beyond the Lake of Fire, 2011, oil on canvas, 35.5” x 32”.

Tides of Memory, Recent paintings and Bronze sculpture, essay and curator by Mr. Ken Marvel, Railyard/LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe N.M. Nov. 4,-Dec. 12, 2012. In Color, six oils reproduced, ISBN # 978-0-9820841-8-2. Images reproduced in Color, Cover, Swimming In the Memory Canal, 2010-11, oil was and resin on linen, 60” x 50”, Goa Tide, 2010, oil on linen, 65 ¼” x 53 ¼”, Sailing the Sepik Tide, 2010-11, oil wax and resin on linen, 82” x 124”, Flowing To Oceania, 2010-11, oil, wax, resin on linen, 60” x 50”, In the Courtyard of Last Blooming, 2010-11, oil, wax, resin on linen, 82” x 62”, Drifting Near the Island of the Mausoleum, 2010-11, oil wax and resin on linen, 50” x 60”, Growing Behind the Arcenale, 2010-2011, oil on linen, 72” x 100”, Japanese Memory Bridge”, 2010-11, oil on linen, 82” x 62”, The Procession, 2010-11, oil on linen, 72” x 62”. The exhibition consisted of 19 oil paintings and two bronzes with four oil paintings on reserve.

2009
From Ruins To Resurrection-Sacred Landscapes of Michael Roque Collins, published by Halcyon Press, Houston TX. Essays by Mr. Ken Marvel introduction, Mr. Jim Edwards main Essay Edward Lucie-Smith Secondary essay, in color, hard bound 200 pages, isbn # 978-1-931823-93-7.

Amistad II, Arte De Texas En El Peru,  Galeria De Arte, Melgar 109 Arequipa Peru, Color catalogue.  Essays by Angela Delgado Valdivia,  Gus Kopriva, Jim Edwards and Max Boyd Harrison. In conjunction with this curated exhibition from September 23 to December 23, 2009.

2007
Amistad-Contemporary Texas Art, Museo De La  Nacion, Curated by Mr. Gus Kopriva, Lima, Peru, color-catalogue.

Camp Marfa, Curated by Mr. Wayne Gilbert, Fort Collins, Marfa TX. October 5th-Dec, 2007, Exhibition also traveled to Lubbock and Huntsville.

More Is More – Maximal Trends in Recent American Painting , Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tatiana Flores, Curator, ISBN# 1-889282-18-9, 2007, 64p.color, Two Michael R. Collins paintings reproduced in color , p.26-27, Emanations, 2004, oil on linen, 82” x 62”, Path of Ascendance”, 2004, oil on linen, 82” x 62”.

LA Art Fair, Catalogue listing through LewAllen Contemporary Gallery Santa Fe, N.M. Jan.

2006
The Legacy Continues 1997-2006, Art Museum of South Texas, affiliated with Texas A&M University, Full color catalogue of Permanent Art Collection, isbn#1-888581-06-9, Essays by,Curator Michelle Locke, Museum Director Dr. Bill Otton. Full color 127 pages.  MRC color reproduction of the painting “Courtyard of Bound Trees”, 2004, oil on linen, 100” x 144”, 2006 purchase of the collectors guild for the AMST Permanent Collection. pp. 22-23.

Houston Contemporary Art, Essays by The Curators Mr. Christopher Zhu, Mr. Gus Kopriva, MS. Allison De-Lima Green, Curator of Contemporary Art, MFAH, Ms. Patricia Johnson, Lead critic for the Houston Chronicle, Mr. Bill White Mayor of the City of Houston (p.13), and Mr. George Bush Sr. former President of the United States.(p.11) Ms. Li Lei, Executive Director of the Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai China,  Color reproductions of Michael R. Collins art work appear on pages 55, 176, 177,178, Michael R. Collins’ art works mentioned in the essays of, Mr. Christopher Zhu, Ms. Li Lei, Patricia Johnson, Ms. Alison De-Lima Green, and Mr. Gus Kopriva.  Hardbound in color 261 pages.

Sacred Landscape, Art Museum of South Texas Affiliated with the Texas A&M University Corpus Christi Texas, Curated by Deborah Fullerton curator of exhibitions, three artist, Michael R. Collins, Ken Dixon and Jim Woodson, Catalogue 38 pages full color, soft bound. Essays mentioning Michael Collins art, Mr. Jim Edwards curator of the Salt Lake City Contemporary Art Center, Ms. Deborah Fullerton, AMST Curator of exhibitions, Mr. Ken Marvel Owner and chief officer of LewAllen Contemporary.

2004
Texas Visions The Barrett Collection-The Art of Texas and Switzerland, Essays by Dr. Edmund P. Pillsbury, Director of the Meadows Museum, Richard R. Bretell, Associate curator of the Meadows Museum, Michael Ennis Former art critic for Texas Monthly Magazine, and Bill Komodore, professor and artist, SMU. Color illustration of a painting by Michael Roque Collins, page 48, “Rain Forest”, 1991, oil on linen, 60” x 100”.   Also on pp. 122, 182 & 188.

2003
The Santa Fe’s Monthly Magazine of the Arts, Dec. 2003/Jan. 2004, “Courtyard of Bound Trees,”     watercolor, 11” x 14”, 2002, w/review of show by Ken Marvel, Gallery Director, LewAllen Contemporary.

2003
Cover of The Southwest Gallery Guide Magazine, Santa Fe, NM, also p. 7, “Courtyard of Bound Trees,” watercolor, 11” x 14”, 2002.

2000
State of the Arts, The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, TX, Jan./Feb. 2000, p. 25.

1999
Polo, Houston, Texas, February issue.

1998
Exposicion, Houston, Texas, Fall 1998

Additional Information

As prior lead professor of art-painting at the School of Art Texas Tech University and Sam Houston State University from 2002-2006, Mr. Collins has taught Beginning Painting in oil, Water-media, Experimental Undergraduate and Graduate level painting, Graduate painting, Graduate Dissertation and Graduate Seminar. Collins has also conducted four study abroad courses in Italy since 2003 and several summers in Hilmsen, Germany for both Graduate and Undergraduate students.

As a professional artist, LewAllen Galleries exclusively represents his art in Santa Fe, N.M, Norwood Flynn Gallery in Dallas, Texas, Virginia Miller Galleries in Coral Gables Miami, Florida and both Redbud and GGallery in Houston Texas. In addition his works are also represented abroad in La Galerie K in Paris, France and Zietkunst Galerie in Halle, Germany. He maintains a very active exhibition schedule, showing extensively both regionally, nationally, and internationally. Mr. Collins, paintings are represented in permanent collections of over sixteen museums including the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Ogden Museum of Art of the American South, New Orleans Louisiana El Paso Museum of Fine Art, Art Museum Of South Texas, San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas A&M University Wayne Stark Museum, College Station, Texas, and both the Lowe and Bass Museum Collections in Miami Florida. His works have been juried in over 250 peer reviewed local, national and international art exhibitions and he has had 51 solo exhibitions at galleries and museums in the United States, and been selected for major international exhibitions in Germany, Cuba, China, France, Greece, Turkey and Peru.

In 2009, a hardbound publication of “From Ruins to Resurrection: Sacred Landscapes of Michael Roque Collins” in review of his creative efforts was published by Halycon Press, Houston Texas. This first major publication dedicated solely to his art and contains three major writings on his works from 1991-2009. Essays included in the publication came from a variety of sources, though Mr. Ken Marvel, owner of LewAllen Galleries in Santa Fe, N.M., provided the introduction, Mr. Jim Edwards, former Menil Museum, curator of the Pop Exhibition wrote the main essay and a secondary essay was included by internationally renowned Art critic, Mr. Edward Lucie-Smith, who has authored over 100 canonical texts over the past forty years.

While at HCU, Mr. Collins has served as a Visiting Professor of Art and now holds the rank of Associate Professor of Art and Director of the School of Art.

Mr. Collins has been awarded over thirty awards in regional and national competitions including three Houston Cultural Arts Council Grants for excellence in painting. He has also won a prestigious MAAA-NEA grant award for excellence in painting and works on paper.  His painting was also awarded recently in the UNESCO Bio Ethics art competition which, featured artists from 23 countries where Collins was one of eleven top prize winners. His professional activities include a huge number of lectures around the world and he has been a visiting artist and guest lecturer at Baylor, SHSU, TCU, SMU, TTU, UTPB, and University of Miami to name only a few. Mr. Collins has also been the main lecturer at the Taste of Jung at the Jung Educational Center in Houston TX and the annual Tower Series lectures for Art and Medicine at St. Luke’s Medical Center. He was also the Artist-In-Residence at the Children’s Art Card project and has over 1000 hours of volunteer service as Artist-in-Residency at MD Anderson Hospital serving children with cancer from 1990-1998. He has also juried numerous art exhibitions in the Houston area. In addition to this past community service he has recently been involved in organizing an HCU Art presence at Yellowstone Academy, Houston Texas. His recent on campus activities include the organization and creation of our new on campus Fine Arts Museum and the planning of its outreach activities into less fortunate communities.