The Art of Living Well

By Andrew Garoppo '24, January 6, 2023
William Collins ’59 thrives in his second career as a painter.
William Collins Headshot

William Collins ’59 has seen success in his second career as a painter.

(Photo by John Kelly/The Washington Post)

William Collins ’59 has seen success in his second career as a painter.

(Photo by John Kelly/The Washington Post)

In art, you don’t always have an idea what the final product is going to look like when you’re starting a project. So, in many ways, it’s appropriate that William Collins ’59 has earned plaudits as a painter in his 80s following a career path that took him in a few different directions.

“I got to do what I wanted to do most of my life and now I’m getting to do what I want with the rest of it,” said Collins. “When I finish a painting, I look at it and fall in love with it.”

This second career wasn’t on his radar when he was majoring in drama at IC. After being drafted into the U.S. Army and eventually being honorably discharged, he went to New York City to try and break into acting.

“The problem was that the profession was 98% looking for work and 2% acting,” he said. “One day while waiting for the bus that was going to take me to an audition, I thought to myself, ‘What if it’s been 20 years and I’m still waiting for a bus?’”

So rather than continue waiting for that bus, he took a different path, serving as a teacher and then a principal after receiving a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1966. Collins earned his PhD in 1971 and went to work as a psychologist in Maryland, inspired by his studies at IC.

“All your deep unmet emotions and needs in your subconscious need to be actualized and when I paint, whatever energies I have in there become fulfilled.” 

William Collins ’59

Through it all, he’d maintained a love for the arts, and spent time painting — though with his career he never had the time to do so seriously.

But then the COVID pandemic happened, and suddenly Collins, who was used to waking at 5:30 a.m. to make an early trek to the office, needed to find a new outlet for his energy. So, with the encouragement of two of his granddaughters, he turned back to the brush.

“All your deep unmet emotions and needs in your subconscious need to be actualized and when I paint, whatever energies I have in there become fulfilled,” Collins said.

William Collins standing in front of his paintings.

Collins opened his own gallery in Annapolis in the summer of 2022.

(Photo by John Kelly/The Washington Post)

Collins opened his own gallery in Annapolis in the summer of 2022.

(Photo by John Kelly/The Washington Post)

An abstract expressionist painter, his works are big, brightly colored, acrylic paintings that express the deep personal uniqueness inside his subconscious. But despite being personal, he wasn’t afraid to share his work with others. He began to post his paintings online, and the positive feedback he received encouraged him to take his hobby to the next step. He located a gallery space in the Annapolis Arts District and signed a three-year lease.

His gallery, WN Collins Gallery and Studio, opened in August of 2022. And although he has received acclaim from outlets like The Washington Post, he’s not in it for praise. 

“When I was young and struggling to get auditions, I thought maybe the world has too many painters, poets, actors, and artists. Now I realize we don’t have enough.”

William Collins ’59

“Whether I’m successful or not really isn’t important to me,” he said. “Personality develops through conflict and how you adapt to it. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation you didn’t expect, and it works out. There is a synchronicity to life, and I don’t regret anything I did. I spent 15 years trying to be an actor. The Greek plays I learned about at Ithaca College led me to psychology, teaching led me to my wife, and even the pandemic led me back to art.”

Armed with a new career, Collins is approaching everything with an open mind and a positive attitude.

“When I was young and struggling to get auditions, I thought maybe the world has too many painters, poets, actors, and artists,” he said. “Now I realize we don’t have enough.”