Part & Parcel
April 19 - June 11, 2021
About
The phrase Part & Parcel was used as a legal term in the 15th century, with part meaning “a portion” and parcel “something integral with a whole. ” So if a thing is part and parcel, it is involved or included in it, and cannot be separated from it.
The work in this exhibit addresses the costs incurred to our planet and our psyche brought about by our choice to believe we are separate from what we call "nature." Belief in the dominion of humans has led us to ravage the land, despoil the air and water, subjugate animals.
This has not been done, in many cases, with intended malice. It is an understandable human impulse to surround ourselves with beauty, with wildness. We build houses on barrier islands to spiritually commune with the ocean. We love birds and other wildlife, want to be near it, so we build houses on wetlands. We have, often unwittingly, destroyed habitat and livelihood for countless species, including our own.
In our ignorance and arrogance, our unwillingness to admit to being simply a part of the whole, we have created a world in great peril. It is time to assume our rightful place, to understand that we are part and parcel, integral and not separate, from everything and everyone.
3D Virtual Tour of Exhibit
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Interview with Kini Collins
Live Q&A With Kini Collins
Want to Meet the Artist?
Are you interested in meeting Kini Collins? She'll be in the Gallery from 1 - 4 p.m. on these Saturdays: April 24, May 8, May 29, and June 5, 2021. Please observe all COVID restrictions. We have a 10 person maximum in the Gallery at any one time and require a mask on at all times, as well as social distancing.
About the Artist
Upon graduating from high school in 1970 I moved to New York City where, driven by the need to protect myself from armed robberies, I began a study of martial arts that was to be the focus of my life for 20 years. I studied in the US and Japan and received ranking in several different movement forms; a third degree black belt in aikido, first degree black belt in iaido, second degree black belt in jujitsu and I was the first non-Japanese to receive a master's level ranking in Toda Ha Bukkyo Ryu. I taught classes in Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tulsa, and Baltimore.
Other than a wealth of personal combat skills and some injuries, the most useful things I took away from those years of study was an understanding that failure is a misnomer and that discipline and desire are as important as talent. After being injured and unable to practice martial arts, I began working as a free-lance writer and editor in 1994. With the thought that learning to draw would improve my observation skills and help me be a better writer, I decided to study drawing. Over the course of two years, I slowly stopped writing, and art-making became the focus of my life, where it has remained since.
I took art classes, read and looked voraciously, and over the course of 20 years, became established in the Baltimore art scene. I had gallery representation locally and nationally. Coupled with a lot of luck, my success is, I believe, mostly a product of the regard for patience and trust of process I learned during my study of martial arts.
I also have an extensive history of volunteerism with neighborhood associations and non-profit organizations, for eight years as a trustee for The Creative Alliance and, most recently, as a member of the Leadership Council of United Workers and a trustee of Awesome Baltimore.
This exhibition and programming was made possible with funding from the Maryland State Arts Council.