Faculty of the Week: Carla Collins
Ceramics teacher Carla Collins creates her newsest piece in the studio. Owen Dudley/The Exonian
By ALAYSHA ZHANG
Chair of the Art Department Carla Collins can most frequently be seen teaching a ceramics class in the Lamont Art Gallery or in the Amen common room hosting Flower Arranging club on Friday evenings. A warm and friendly face around campus, Collins is a strong force of creativity and expression and encourages students to be the same.
Collins has been teaching at the Academy for 13 years and is currently the Chair of the Art Department.
“I've always known I wanted to be a teacher from a really young age, and I always knew that I wanted to be an artist at a really young age. I had really bad experiences with art teachers when I was in middle school but had really positive ones when I was in high school. And I'm very happy to be a high school art teacher now,” Collins said.
Collins also grew up around art and shared a bit about how her family has influenced her. “My dad is from Japan, he lives in Japan, and he's also lived in a lot of other countries. He's a photojournalist and both my parents are photographers actually. I think having that component has really helped me a lot here with understanding others’ perspectives and has given me a love for traveling. I also think it's important just to experience other cultures. I think ceramics is a really fun medium because you can go to a different country and it’s completely different,” she said.
“I have never taken a class with Ms. Collins,” Instructor in English Erica Lazure said, “but I know from hearing about her classes that she cares deeply about both her students and teaching them the foundations of creative expression.”
She has visions and lengthy goals for the Art Department that range from students’ classes to welcoming artists. “Right now I have this small but awesome advanced ceramics class and just the tone and the energy in that class is just so positive and they're also supportive of each other. I think if I were to sum it all up, ceramics has this ability to really bring people together,” Collins described.
“Her assignments enable students to find their own ‘voices’ as artists, whether they are making ceramics, drawing, or painting.” Lazure continued.
In terms of the department as a whole, “We try to make the art program a place where it's welcoming to the whole community, and not just really high achieving artists. We have classes where you can really grow creatively and push yourself as an artist,” Collins said.
“We as a department feel that it's very important that we are all practicing artists as well because it's really important to model that for your students as well,” Collins continued.
Collin’s love for creating art is evident to her colleagues as well. Lazure shared, “I always admire Ms. Collins’ commitment to continuing to create artwork, even when her obligations as department head, teacher, dorm faculty, and mom keep her busy.”
As an advisor to students in Amen Hall, many Amenite advisees remarked on Collins as their advisor. “Ms. Collins is very chill and [a] ‘go with the flow’ [kind of person],” lower Kayla Villanueva said.
On a similar note, senior Kate Nixon described Collins as “a fantastic listener, she [who] is empathetic, and she truly cares about her advisees which is clear in the care she takes in checking in with each and every one of us.”
“Personally, I am so grateful for the extra time she's always taken to talk to my dad whenever he had a question,” Nixon continued. “I know he's appreciated her since I arrived at Exeter and he always reminds me how lucky I am to have Mrs. Collins in my corner.”
Upper Clara Peng agreed on Collins’ attentiveness for her students. “Ms. Collins is a very caring person who pays a lot of attention to details,” Peng said. “For my birthday this year, she remembered my favorite apple variety and she brought me it, which is kind of a big deal for me because I love apples and I would have to go all the way to Hannaford to go get that apple. It really made my day that she remembered it — my favorite [apple] too, it wasn't just any apple.”
Ms. Collin’s caringness for the dorm shines through to everyone. Villanueva shared “One time Ms. Collins was taping the door of the dorm since the power was out and she was too scared anybody would get locked out.”
Relatedly, Nixon shared, “My favorite thing about Mrs. Collins is how knowledgeable and reliable she is. There have been many times at Exeter where Mrs. Collins was the reason my problem was solved so quickly. She knows exactly what to say and who to contact. Another thing I love about Mrs. Collins is her ability to make people laugh. She knows how to deliver a funny story and always seems to interject them at a perfect time.”
Collins also talks about her connection to the dorm. “I love Amen. I love the community that Amen brings. It has this loose but very warm vibe,” Collins said.
“Every time I come back to the dorm on Saturday night, the first floor common room is always packed with flowers and vases from Flower Arranging Club,” upper Zuzanna Szul commented, “It’s always such a nice sight to come back to.”
Collins said “I wanted to bring more cheer, especially in the winter months to the campus. For me, flowers really got me through some tough times. I know it feels like a little thing, but I feel that just being one with nature is really important, and it helps me think clearer.”
In a similarly floral fashion, “Advisory [with Ms. Collins] always starts with rose, bud, thorn (a variation of the common highs and lows game),” Nixon said. “Those comments sometimes lead into a bigger conversation but generally our meeting will wrap up after everyone has had the opportunity to share, but of course people will linger behind to meet one on one with Mrs. Collins.”
Collins also dedicated several of their recent advisory meetings to letting her advisees create a “vision board” for themselves by cutting up magazines and pasting them onto a poster.
“I have my hang in my room right now. I really enjoy just having that creative process and also like being able to look at things with my advisees,” Peng noted.
In addition to the vision board, “Because Ms. Collins is part of the art department, we [advisees] get a lot of art perks,” senior Cindy Su said. “When there's visiting artists, we get to go to their dinners and slide talks. It's also nice to be in the art building because there's a lot of crafts that we do together.”
Su shared some other advisory group memories with Collins. “In the fall we did a group learn-how-to-play-spike ball activity, and that was fun. We just played spike ball for the entire advisory time.”
“Another time was when we all went out to Swazey River and she brought us St. Anthony’s Bakery, and we all ate together and just talked about our weeks,” Su continued.
During the Swazey River advisory, “Mrs. Collins brought croissants and strawberries, but it was truly wonderful to connect outside in the sun,” Nixon said. “This year, I [also] loved our late-night advisory sushi dinner where Mrs. Collins brought Miso soup she had made!”
Collins offered some final advice to students, “The only thing that I can think of is to give yourself permission to take that art class sooner. I have to say, I always meet all these really amazing seniors in spring term and I'm like, ‘where have you been all my life?’ So if you really think that ceramics is going to be your thing, take it a little earlier so I can get to know you sooner,” she concluded.
