He now operates a folk art gallery, and is still collecting quilts with a passion. Most are done by contemporary or modern textile artists, including artist Yvonne Wells, winner of the 1998 Alabama Arts and Visual Craftsmen Award. Opening reception is 5-7 p.m. Jan. 12, featuring jazz percussionist Luigi Waites. A special Saturday morning family story hour with Yvonne Wells is Feb. 24. The International Quilt Study Center was established in 1997 with the donation of nearly 950 quilts from the Ardis and Robert James Quilt Collection.
Admission is free.
Collins is associate professor of piano, and coordinator of the keyboard area at Southwest Missouri State University. He received his bachelor and master's of music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore where he won numerous prizes for his performing excellence. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Michigan where he received the Regents' Fellowship and the Amy Young Evers Fortepiano Scholarship. He has served on the faculties of the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Ozark Festival for the Performing Arts, and the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. Collins has won awards in several national and international piano competitions, including first prize in the 1984 Washington International Piano Competition and second place in the 1984 American Chopin Competition.