Alan Collins (August 15 1928 - October 18, 2016) was an English-born sculptor. After continuing his career in England, Collins moved to the United States and continued working there as an artist and, for more than 20 years, as a professor of art at Seventh-day Adventist Universities.
Collins work primarily focused on evocative Biblical stories told in outdoor sculptures, which has been described as "24-hour, 365-days-a-year silent sermons."
Collins was born in the village of Beddington, in northeast Surrey, England. He naturally took to art as a child as a way to spend his time and a means of communication: when it was difficult to explains something he'd seen in words, he was more successful communicating in images. At the age of 16, after attending public schools, Collins entered Wimbledon School of Art. While there he earned first prize in a contest that spanned the country of England. Having won a scholarship for Royal College of Art, he studied sculpture.
Collins developed a lifelong connection to the Adventist Church after having attended a meeting by Australian evangelist Thomas J. Bradley in Corydon, England.
When Collins first began carving in stone he used Malta stone, which was in great supply during and after World War II as it had been used by supply ships as ballast when the ships returned to England with otherwise empty load.
His work was exhibited at the Royal Society for the Arts and the Royal Academy, one of which was a Maltese stone sculpture Head of a King that Collins exhibited in 1946 at Exhibition 20 by the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society when he was a student at Wimbledon College of Art. Collins was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors.
He received the Society's Sir Otto Beit award in 1964 for his stone carving of St. Martha of Bethany at Guildford Cathedral.
In 1968 Collins moved to the United States and began a more than 20-year career teaching at Seventh-day Adventists Universities, including Atlantic Union College (1968–1971) in Massachusetts, Andrews University (1971–1978) in Michigan and La Sierra University (1978–1989) in California.
As a result of his years of work teaching at Adventist universities, he developed a "signature style" that is attributed to Adventist college works.
Having retired from teaching, Collins worked in Phoenix, Oregon on his own works made in many mediums: bronze, wood, clay, wood, concrete and stone. Collins, who created many works for the Adventist Church, also conducted lectures and showed his work at Adventist colleges.
He moved back to England in 2013, and lived in Bridport, Dorset until his death.
Aside from Collins' work at Guildford Cathedral, he executed other works in England before moving to the United States. Most notably he designed and carved the John F. Kennedy Memorial at Runnymede. In the United States he created sculptures largely for religious organizations, commissions from hospitals and private individuals.
"We mourn the loss of a great Adventist Artist. Thus, we extend our heartfelt condolences to his entire family", so the EUD Public Relations Office.
"People in the world of art, music and creativity often think they need to distance themselves from the path of the church, getting often the wrong impression they are dealing with something creatively and artistically limiting.
It’s enough to delve into the infinite variety of planet Earth to perceive the divine heart. God created a world full of wonderful colors, smells, shapes and sounds. Nature is a festival of creative, joyful harmonies. Creativity, fantasy and musicality are primary characteristics of the divine Creation. God is an artist, a dreamer, a painter… a sculptor and a poet."
