Collin graduated from the Natal Technikon with a National Diploma in Fine Art and later obtained a Masters (cum laude) in Fine Art from Rhodes University. After obtaining his Masters degree in Printmaking, Collin was a university lecturer for 14 years and taught at the Rhodes University School of Fine Art (1984 – 1986), the University of Bophuthatswana (1986 – 1994) and at the University of North West (1994 – 1999). Here, he primarily taught various printmaking techniques including Serigraphy, Intaglio, Relief printing, Off-Set Lithography as well as all associated photomechanical processes, from first year to masters’ level. He also taught History of Art, visual communication and techniques so that the student has the opportunity to create images that result in traditional limited edition prints. He started his solo career in 2000 after leaving academic teaching.

In 2002, Collin established a private teaching facility, the BLUE DOOR PRINT STUDIO, to teach artists and anyone with a serious desire but outside of the often-restricted formal educational institutions, the opportunity to learn professional printmaking. The Blue Door Print Studio was located in the back of the church hall at the St Ninian’s, Parktown North Church. In May 2017 Collin moved from St Ninian’s and opened his new studio in Melville, Johannesburg. The new location, an beautiful old church, built in 1902, was renovated and transformed into an amazing creative space with all the amenities required for the safe working and production of intaglio, relief and planographic processes. The studio also offers a foundation course in Printmaking i.e. hard ground etching, soft ground etching, monoprints, dry point and linocut courses and workshops

My work reflects on my interest of collecting and archiving objects found along my daily journeys. I have been habitually collecting a variety of objects since the 1970s. The choice to collect an object is defined by where it has been found, its past and current function, its visual appeal and most importantly, its personal meaning to me. “With a compulsion to archive things for their historical importance and for their particular appeal to his aesthetic sensibility and because of his personal past, Collin has established an actual repository of objects that embody specific meaning for him. It is this store of things – together with text, signs and symbols derived from everyday encounters – that are the catalyst for his creative process and are often the subjects of his artworks.

By relocating these objects, by re-contextualising them in his compositions, the artist intends to reinvigorate them and to establish them as a dimension of his present identity.” During the last two years of isolation and uncertainty, I have concentrated my art practice into making images that are less restricted and more experimental regarding methodology, technique as well as content. I had no fixed way of working. I concentrated on what interested me, allowing myself the opportunity to indulge my practice in any form of image making. Creating works that mirror the uncertainty and unpredictability of our new reality.

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