STAR Collaboration
STAR Collaboration at Eagle Hill
The STAR Collaboration (Students, Teachers, Artists-in-Residence) invites artists from visual, literary, musical, and performing arts genres to join Eagle Hill for a semester of focused art work, and to come together with our students and teachers to facilitate novel learning opportunities.
The STAR residency program is open to artists at any stage of their careers—emerging artists, well-established artists, art teachers, and artists returning to former careers in the arts. STAR artists are educators at heart, who want to work with students while expanding the definition of what being an educator means; who are interested in novel, interdisciplinary educational approaches; and who thrive on collaboration with others.
Call to STAR Artists
Interested in becoming a STAR Artist?
The STAR Collaboration invites artists of all disciplines to join us for a semester of focused art work, and to come together with our students and teachers to facilitate learning.
Current Resident STAR Artist
The start of a new school year also means the start of a new STAR residency! We are excited to welcome John Collins to campus for the fall residency session. John will be joining us through mid-December.
John Collins, MBA, is a lifelong artist who grew up and studied here in Western Massachusetts. His
love of art has spanned many forms including drawing, painting, and sculpting but he has pursued
these only as part-time hobbies while raising his family. Earlier this year when he retired from the
business world and phased out his own architectural products marketing company, he decided to
focus on taking his art to the next level.
John recently won a "Best in Show" award this June -- for the first show he ever submitted an oil
painting for. However, the three dimensional human form, although challenging, is by far his favorite
subject matter. John has been sculpting for 30 years and has experimented with many materials,
including stone, wood, clay, and even snow and beach sand, winning competitions for his unique
larger-than-life human form sand sculptures on Narragansett Beach. His other, more permanent
sculptures have been exhibited locally and throughout the Northeast, including at the Norman
Rockwell Museum's juried sculpture exhibition. John also trains golden retrievers and has a talent for
teaching and sharing his passion and knowledge for art with people of all ages.
Visit Collins Art Studio to see John's work.
John Collins
Meet Our Former STAR Artists
Janelle Bighinatti
Sarah Elliot
Sam Hunter
Adis Halilovic
David Walsh
Multidisciplinary Arts
Nico Bocalan (or skelehime)
Jeremy Geragotelis
“I came to Eagle Hill as a young playwright who had more or less given up on their creative practice. The greatest gift that the STAR residency supplied was time and space. Over the two years I spent around the Eagle Hill community, I revitalized my practice as a theater-maker and playwright and developed work that challenged standardized conceptions of what theater must be.”—Jeremy Geragotelis, playwright
Suzanne Alward
“My experience at Eagle Hill as a STAR resident was exceptional. I was allowed to lead by example with my artistic practice and welcomed students into my studio space for private lessons or group workshops. The exposure to new disciplines and perspectives enabled me to grow both personally and professionally.”—Suzanne Alward, Visual artist and Sculpturer
Veronica Fish
“The residency was a fantastic experience, both professionally and personally. I look back on pages 8 and 9 of Frankenstein, and can’t believe just a few months later I’m already working on pages 90 and 91. Impossible without the STAR program!”—Veronica Fish, Graphic Novel Author and Illustrator, Frankenstein 1921
Behind the Scenes: Taylor Judge
Eagle Hill School alumna Taylor Judge ’07 gives a personal look into the STAR Collaboration and the Eagle Hill arts experience, as she reflects on her return to Eagle Hill as a STAR artist.