Putting the pieces together

“Children don’t need to be told how to be creative, give them a crayon and some paper and they know what to do,” said Pam Collins, a Staples artist who will be the judge of the Freshwater Education District/National Joint Powers Alliance Art Show May 12 and 13 at Centennial Auditorium.

“I love to see what kids are thinking, it is fun to see how young people take an idea and create something out of it,” said Collins. 

Collins said she wants to help art students because that is the best time to make sure they keep their creativity alive. She said many people who love art start to lose touch with it as they move through middle school and high school and by the time they become adults they find themselves saying “I don’t know how to do art, I don’t know how to paint,” said Collins.

Young artists need to be encouraged to keep going, said Collins, because every artist remembers somebody telling them their art is no good, and that is what sticks with them instead of the many people who say they love the art.

She has experience judging a state-wide art show at New York Mills. She doesn’t mind being a judge but realizes that art means something different to everyone who views it. “Art is such a subjective topic,” she said, 

Collins is a mostly self-taught artist, especially in her specialties of mosaics and fabric art. She took art classes in college but didn’t want to take the required classes to finish her degree. After raising her daughter, she had the inspiration to get back to art. 

“I’m always looking for ideas,” said Collins. She came across mosaics and developed her own style through trial and error. 

She found mosaics to be carthartic, as she compared putting the pieces together to her turbulent childhood. “I love taking an old piece that is not considered beautiful any more and repurposing it into something beautiful,” said Collins.

She felt the same thrill when she started using fabric for art. One day while walking through a fabric store, “I had a light bulb moment, to use fabric as paint,” said Collins. She is now doing more fabric pieces because arthritis is making it harder for her to cut tiles for mosaics.

Whatever the form, Collins plans to be involved in art, either at the art show or with her own works.

“Our souls need art, whether it is visual, performing or music, it is so important,” she said.