In the 1990s, when Dr. Marcia Taylor ’70 needed to hire a new art education teacher at the College of New Jersey (then Trenton State College), she immediately thought of her friend, Dee Collins ’93. Taylor had become a firsthand witness to her fellow alumna’s passion for the visual arts and youth education when Collins taught Taylor’s daughter in Moore’s Young Artist Workshop (YAW).
Both women had exemplary careers after graduating from Moore. Taylor, who received a master’s degree in art therapy and a PhD in behavioral science, retired in 2015 after 37 years as a faculty member and associate dean at The College of New Jersey. In 2020, she set up an endowed scholarship fund with Moore to benefit students in YAW.
Collins taught art at Chestnut Hill College and Bucks County Community College, then went on to work in book and paper conversation at the Conversation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Moravian Archives. Now in retirement, she teaches art classes and sells work in the Art Shop at Moore.
Taylor and Collins sat down for the first time in decades to talk about their shared history, their love for teaching in the arts, and the connections they made—and kept—at Moore.
Editor's note: This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
DR. MARCIA TAYLOR: Dee, we go way back to when [my daughter] Katie was in third grade. I had a sabbatical from teaching art therapy at The College of New Jersey that year, back when it was called Trenton State College. I thought, “It’ll be perfect to go to Moore on Saturdays, since I’m not working.” That’s where I met you!
DEE COLLINS: I studied at Moore and then taught at the [College’s] Young Artists Workshop, and that’s how I met you, through Katie.
MT: I remember some of the activities that you did. You took your whole class next door to the Academy of Natural Sciences and they drew animals. They brought all their drawings back to Moore and cut them up for a collage. Katie loved it. It felt like anything the children did in your class was accepted and celebrated.
I later became co-chair of the art department at Trenton State and we needed to hire an adjunct faculty member to teach an elementary methods class in art education. I thought, “Dee Collins, I wonder if she’s available.”
I loved the work that you did with Katie’s class and I knew you would transfer that knowledge to students who were going to become teachers. I really love your personality and I knew you would embrace and encourage future art educators.
Do you remember if you taught any other classes?
DC: I only taught the elementary class and I loved doing that. That was really great.
MT: I think I also remember some of your projects in that class at Trenton State. You did a lot of work with paper and making books. I know the students that had you really loved the projects that you did with them, and they later incorporated that into their own teaching.
DC: The fun thing about that class was having the students teach a different project each week. It was so wonderful for me to watch them grow and learn how to teach.
Looking back to my own time as a student, I was looking at University of the Arts and Moore. I was almost 50 when I came to Moore, and I chose it because of its small size and inclusivity. I didn’t know what to expect as an adult that old, but it was a very welcoming feeling.
I made so many friends that I’m still friends with. Now, if we know of a job opening, we will absolutely go [to Moore] first. One of my friends recently needed something framed and went to a framer who came from Moore. She’s now trying to get everyone she knows from Moore to use that framer.
MT: You do think of Moore as a small school and yet I feel like I’m always bumping into people that went there. There’s Moore graduates all over the place. I think that says something about the power of Moore.
DC: I really like when everyone keeps in touch with all the people they’ve met at Moore and become friendly with them over the years. I’ve been out for 30 years, and I have at least 12 friends that still keep in touch.
When I graduated from Moore, [we] were all a little bit lost. We started getting together every few weeks and we could call it “Art Night.” Someone would have an idea of something to create, so we would do that. We still occasionally get together in the summer at a friend’s beach house and do the same thing.
That connection is really important because as your life changes, you may be able to help each other out in different ways.
MT: I’ll jump on a word you just mentioned: changes. Sometimes, when people first graduate, they think they can’t deal with changes. The flexibility you get when you’re a student at Moore really helps you embrace change.
My advice to students and graduates is not to be afraid of change. Embrace it. If it doesn’t work, try something else. Stay in touch with people you respect, people who are close to you, and even faculty members or people you met during an internship.
DC: I think it’s important to keep in touch with Moore, too. Connect with them and keep that connection.
Main images courtesy of Dr. Marcia Taylor '70 and Dee Collins '93.
