By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Larry Collins' second annual one-man show at Creekside Greenhouses Saturday, Sept. 2, features a nearly-completed woodburned panel of horns swathed in hostas atop old stereos.
Not only does it reinforce Collins' personal interplay of plants and art, the show from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. looks forward while embracing his past.
Collins is developing an art gallery in the house adjacent to the greenhouses he uses as a studio.
"The green house next to the greenhouse," he jokes about his work space at 324 Pokagon St.
He has also begun experimenting with digital photography as his first step toward establishing a Web site.
"Years ago, I used to do a lot of roses, and I love hostas," says Collins, who doesn't play the trumpet or the trombone that adorn his studio.
The other plant pictured is an elephant ear from Mississippi.
Animals and barns were also frequently featured in his work before he began exploring the African American experience.
He wishes he could play piano because the keyboard instrument and flute "are the most relaxing instruments that a person can play for themselves."
Indeed, even as rain drummed down Monday afternoon, classical music washed over him inside.
One finishing touch will be adding color, which he achieves by turning ordinary paint into a stain.
"You don't want a lot, just enough to make a person think they see color," like a hint of green tint on the plants, Collins explained.
Let the moisture purge itself, he figures. All the precipitation now increases his odds for good weekend weather.
"I hope I can be working outside while they range from room to room," Collins said.
By next year he figures the gallery will overflow to the upper level as he continues to produce prints and cards depicting his works.
Last summer's spotlight fell on a montage of Ray Charles created before the rhythm and blues and gospel legend's death.
Collins, who works for Preferred Printing, and his wife Mildred live across Pokagon Street from the business going on its seventh season.
Collins sketches each piece before woodburning the image with a soldering iron.
His entry into woodburning began standing in line in a supermarket.
He noticed a deer singed into a small piece of wood.
Fascinated, Collins' immediate reaction was, "That would be devastating on something huge. I never knew anything about it, but I guess people had been doing stuff like that for a long time. I went searching. My father's little soldering iron didn't hold up, so I made one using a light switch. I burned that up. I just kept on refining it."
Flip one piece over and it would reveal that his handsomely detailed scene can cover an old skid. Poplar and birch lend themselves to his art.
A piece as elaborate as Ray Charles, which in print form can be purchased as the entire montage or as individual illustrations, took several months to make.