Polis Student Designer - Kris Collins

When the featured writer of CVCC’s 2011Edition of Polis: Art and Literary Journal was given the green light to submit a cover design for the journal, he jumped at the opportunity. Being a graduate of Central Virginia Community College’s Communication Design program, Kris Collins had always wanted to produce the cover art for Polis. After years of not only paying dues and eventually working in the graphic art field, in 2009 Kris decided to go back to CVCC to continue his education by studying education and eventually transferring to Randolph College. He is currently an English major with an emphasis on creative writing at Randolph but continues to produce graphic art on his own terms. When he’s not going to school fulltime or working at CVCC in the evenings, he’s working on videos, writing literature and creating graphic design under his brand: Oktobervision. With a passion for creating vector art, Kris continues to master his craft over the years and has been creating work through his brand since 2003. The self-proclaimed modern day Renaissance man was asked by his professors when he was graduating from CVCC years ago, “what is your overall goal with your art?” Back then he told them that his goal was to integrate art and video, and to this day he continues to live by that goal, even taking it a step further, combining every art form he does into a cluster of artistic elements and presenting it through his art, literature and video brand.

“I’m thankful for all of the great professors and mentors I’ve had on my voyage. CVCC Professors like John Black, Roger Elliot, and Lana Velez have really taught me a lot, not only about art and literature but they also showed me how to be a creative thinker. For almost 10 years I have been taking all of those methods of creative thinking, blending them with newly discovered writing techniques, and I’ve continuously put them to use, creating a legacy for myself. It’s been a long road full of paying dues, surviving, creating art, writing literature, going to school, creating brands and making videos, but I’m really just getting started. I have big dreams, and I’m on a mission to create a name for myself. Even if I died tomorrow, I would leave behind a pretty good collection of work, but I have so much more in me that needs to be released, and I plan on doing so on my own terms. I don’t think Lynchburg is ready, but she doesn’t have a choice.” –Kris Collins

Return to Polis 2012