Larry Winston Collins’ interest in linoleum block printing peaked after he enrolled in a printmaking course with master printmaker Robert Blackburn, founder, and director of the well-known Printmakers Workshop in New York City. He encouraged Collins to explore creating prints using traditional wood and linoleum block techniques.
“I enjoy using the linoleum block printing process because of its graphic yet spontaneous effect. This series of prints titled “Portraits in Prints – Jazz Series” is dedicated to the great American men and women of African descent who faced many challenges during their lives but left an enduring legacy in Jazz to inspire future generations,” Collins said.
List of portraits
All prints are 11” x 14” linoleum block prints created in 2006
- Mary Lou Williams
- Miles Davis
- Thelonious Monk
- Sarah Vaughan
- Charlie Parker
- John Coltrane
- Dizzy Gillespie
- Count Basie
- Diane Washington
- Duke Ellington
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Julian “Cannonball” Adderly
- Louis Armstrong
- Billie Holiday
- Charles Mingus
- Nina Simone
About the artist
Larry Winston Collins was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Before pursuing a career as a fine artist, Collins worked as a graphics designer. Collins received his BFA degree from Columbus College of Art and Design, in Columbus, Ohio, and his MFA degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. Collins also received a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. The “Artist to Africa Fellowship” presented by “ACE” (Arts for Community Expression), facilitated Collins travels to Dakar, Senegal in West Africa. Collins has received many other awards including grants from the Ohio and Greater Columbus Arts Councils, one being the 1999 and 2007 Residency Fellowship to Dresden, Germany.
Collins considers himself to be a mixed media artist, working in a variety of materials and techniques. His past works include drawings, mixed media paintings and sculptures, collage, and printmaking. Collins sometimes combines various disciplines to create a technique he refers to as “Art Fusion”.
Collins exhibits nationally and internationally. Collins, also an educator, taught at Columbus College of Art and Design for several years and is a Retired Associate Professor from the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Collins now lives in Cincinnati, Ohio