John E. Collins
About the Artist
This fabric portrait was created by Jan Collins-Eaglans, an Elder Artist and counseling psychologist who has worked with universities and college students for over forty years. She currently consults with higher education institutions to make mental health accessible to students of color and provide the resources to enhance their emotional well-being.
As an emerging artist, Jan is a storyteller. Stories define us, and her art becomes a storyboard of ancestors and places of memory. She loves creating quilts as narratives of family life, finding that making family art is a meditative and reflective process. She starts with an idea or technique and adds embellishments that represent the people, places, or things incorporated into the quilt.
Jan enjoys collage work, starting from the base fabric and adding meaningful pieces as they come to life. As a quilter and artist, she is still at the beginning of "naming" her technical practice, but she feels secure in the process. She enjoys combining what she has learned from quilt masters and applying their techniques to her pieces. The results are sometimes astonishing but always rewarding.
About the Subject
John E. Collins was a celebrated jazz guitarist whose career spanned over seven decades. He began his musical journey at age 17, playing guitar in his mother's jazz combo. Throughout his illustrious career, he performed with many jazz greats, including Fletcher Henderson, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Carmen McRae, and Harry "Sweets" Edison.
John E. Collins remained active in the jazz scene until the end of his life, passing away in 2001 at the age of 89. His contributions to jazz history and his dedication to music serve as an enduring legacy that his daughter Jan honors through this fabric portrait.
About the Artwork
This portrait of John E. Collins celebrates his contributions to jazz and his remarkable history. For Jan, creating this piece was both a meditative and reflective process—combining her training as a counseling psychologist with her emerging artistic practice. The work represents the intersection of storytelling, family memory, and textile art.
Using her preferred collage technique, Jan started from the base fabric and added meaningful pieces that represent her father's jazz legacy. Each embellishment tells part of his story—from his early days playing in his mother's combo to performing alongside jazz legends. This portrait serves as both a personal tribute and a historical document, preserving the memory of a jazz musician who dedicated his life to his art, much as Jan now dedicates her creativity to honoring his legacy.