#Edmonton Oil Kings

[wildaboutmnhockey]

Luke Prokop on his Pride Night experiences

[annieqattheperipheral]

you have to read this in full!!

i gotchu from behind the $wall:

The day Luke Prokop shook the hockey world by coming out, he needed to get away.

And stop looking at his constantly buzzing phone.

It was July 21, 2021, and the right-shot defenseman had just become the first openly gay hockey player under an NHL contract. The Nashville Predators’ No. 73 pick in the 2020 draft was just 19 years old and hadn’t even turned pro yet. He didn’t know how it would impact his future. His nerves were fried.

But one text message was impossible to ignore. He didn’t recognize the number but certainly knew the name.

“Hey, it’s Auston Matthews. I wanted to congratulate you. I look forward to sharing the ice with you someday.”

Prokop was blown away. The Toronto Maple Leafs superstar wasn’t the most famous person to reach out — that honor goes to Elton John — but the fact that so many NHLers, including one of the league’s best and most powerful players, were offering support meant a lot.

Now 21, Prokop still hasn’t taken the NHL ice, but on Wednesday he took a step forward, being recalled by the Predators’ AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. He could become the first openly gay player to appear in an AHL game Friday night for the Admirals in Rockford.

As difficult as the decision to come out was, Prokop told The Athletic in an extended conversation recently that he’s been mentally and physically freed by it. He doesn’t have to hide. He can be himself, on and off the ice. Heck, he can even date.

“It’s been massive,” he said.

Teammates and fans have welcomed him in his journey toward the NHL so far, from Calgary, Edmonton and Seattle of the junior WHL to, most recently, Atlanta of the ECHL. They treated him like he was any other player.

Not that there’s not room to grow. Prokop figured more players would come out after he did. They haven’t, not that he would rush anyone’s decision on that. He’s also been disappointed by the developments over the past few years with the NHL’s inclusion efforts, including the Pride tape “debacle.”

He can only control his own actions, though, and doesn’t regret his decision.

“I’d like to think I’m a realistic person,” Prokop said. “I know hockey is not going to be forever. As much as (when I came out) I would have loved to keep playing, I was OK with not playing any more if it didn’t work out — just being able to live my life the way I wanted, to be myself.

“But now, I don’t want to stop playing. It was definitely nerve-wracking. You never know what the reaction is going to be inside hockey, outside hockey, because no one has done it before. We kind of went out on a limb and hoped for the best. It’s been way more positive than we thought it’d be. You’re going to have some keyboard warriors, which there were a few, but I was expecting more.

“I did not expect the amount of support I got from NHL players. That was really cool.”

- - - - - - -

The Matthews text and Elton John phone call the morning after were memorable, with the gay rock legend welcoming him to the community and offering his email address if Prokop ever needed anything.

Prokop found even more comfort in a moment that came a few days later — the first time he played hockey since his announcement. It was a four-on-four league in Edmonton at Meadows Rec Center, a place where pros and NHLers competed and kept in shape during the offseason.

Prokop was on a team with Colton and Kirby Dach. The other team had Philadelphia Flyers goalie Carter Hart and the Boston Bruins’ Jake DeBrusk. During warmups, Prokop found himself near mid-ice. The first guy to approach him was DeBrusk. The two had met previously through mutual friends. DeBrusk tapped Prokop’s shin pads with his stick.

“Congrats,” he told him. “I’m really happy for you. If you need anything, let me know.”

“I didn’t know what the reaction would be,” Prokop said. “So that meant a lot.”

Prokop was returning that year to the Calgary Hitmen (WHL), the junior team he had played for the previous four seasons. But there had been a lot of turnover on the roster and, of course, a lot had changed for Prokop. So he decided to address the team in its first meeting in training camp.

“Everyone knows what I did last summer,” he told his team. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. There might be a lot of media asking you for an interview. If you don’t feel comfortable, you don’t have to do them. If you have any questions for me, come ask me. I’m an open book. I just don’t want you guys to feel uncomfortable.”

In that dressing room, Prokop had heard plenty of the uncomfortable language that’s not uncommon for any locker room. He even admitted using it. He didn’t want to out himself. He wanted to act straight, be “one of the guys.”

“I heard it, but it wasn’t all the time,” he said. “I also took it from the perspective that these guys don’t know any better. It’s hockey language. It’s how guys talk. They don’t mean it in a harmful way. They use the word ‘gay’ as a filler at the end of a sentence to make something stupid. ‘Well, that’s so gay.’ I wasn’t comfortable with it, but I used it myself. I didn’t want to seem like I was out of the mix.

“Some guys texted me (after I came out), ‘F—, sorry if I said anything to offend you when we played.’ I’d just say, ‘Guys, you had no idea.’ The lesson is you don’t know what everyone is going through. The words you say do matter. Make sure you think before you speak. It’s a silly rule you learn in kindergarten. It applies to life when you’re 22 or 35 and never goes away.

“The way hockey is going with the language, guys are naturally changing their language. I’ve heard a change in language on every team I’ve been on.”

Prokop said that season was the best of his career, both from a production standpoint and a personal one. He was traded to the Edmonton Oil Kings early in the season and had 10 goals and 33 points in 55 games for them, helping them win the WHL’s Ed Chynoweth Cup and advance to the Memorial Cup.

Luke Prokop won the WHL’s Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Oil Kings in 2022. (Courtesy of Oilers Entertainment Group)

Luke Pierce, then an assistant coach for Edmonton and now the head coach, said the staff and management had discussions with the leadership group before acquiring Prokop — making sure they were comfortable with it, feeling out whether their room could handle the attention. Pierce said he asked one of the captains, Blues prospect Jake Neighbours, for his perspective. Neighbours had known Prokop since they were 10 or 11, growing up playing in spring tournaments together. He told Pierce and the staff there would be “zero issue” and he’d be a great addition.

Neighbours said nothing really changed, that Prokop “fit right in” to the team. Pierce at first wondered if players would have any issue with rooming assignments on the road, but nobody blinked. Pierce noted that Prokop would joke about situations and even opened up about his boyfriend coming to visit.

“He put everybody at ease,” Pierce said. “I often tell people, if the outside world could see how the group of men interacted, it would be just a tremendous inspiration on how we should treat everybody.”

Pierce and Prokop pointed out how this generation is more comfortable and equipped to handle LGBTQ+ inclusion issues. Everyone seems to know someone, be friends with someone, or be related to someone in the community.

“I just don’t think guys really care anymore,” Prokop said. “They might be nervous as they have this stereotype version of what a gay guy might look like, sound like, act like. Like me, coming to a team, they think I’ll act a certain way, look a certain way, but they’ll realize three minutes into talking to me that I’m not that.

“Hockey is part of me. It’s who I am. Guys totally forget (about me being gay) when I’m at the rink. They’re not afraid to ask questions. But other than that, it never really comes up. That’s how I wanted it to be. I wanted them to know, but we can all go out and play. I never wanted to be a distraction.”

- - - - - - -

The NHL’s decisions around Pride jerseys and stick tape weren’t a distraction, Prokop said, but he has gotten frustrated about it.

He understood the issue over wearing sweaters during warmups — “jerseys weren’t really their choice” — but lamented that the fact the focus was on the handful of players who refused to wear them and not all the others who did. The NHL’s initial banning of Pride stick tape, then its reversal, was a whole other topic.

“To take away choices from players was really confusing,” Prokop said. “Some of them don’t really care. For some, it was near and dear to their heart. To take it away was mind-boggling. From the players’ side, the support was there. Zach Hyman talked about it, Travis Dermott. I like what they did. They didn’t make a big deal about it before — they just did it. Let fans see the rest, and it’ll take care of itself. There’s a massive amount of support from players in the NHL.”

What do the Pride tape and sweaters mean for someone in the LGBTQ+ community?

Prokop didn’t recall noticing them growing up going to Oilers games. He never got to see someone who was gay using Pride tape on the TV screen. He had to deal with it himself — “jump over those barriers without any help.” But Prokop continued pursuing his hockey career whereas “a lot of people don’t feel comfortable pursuing their career without that exposure, without feeling like they’re being seen.”

“I think with the Pride tape stuff, they were trying to show support for their older fans,” Prokop said of the NHL. “The fans that have been watching hockey for 40-50 years. That’s not how you grow the game. You want to get the younger generation, put these guys in the best situation to promote the game. Sometimes I don’t think the NHL does that the correct way. The Pride tape is one example.”

Prokop has been part of two Pride nights since he came out, one with the Edmonton Oil Kings and another with Seattle. The Oil Kings staff approached him after not having that event on their promotional calendar. They planned it in two weeks and it was a big hit, with around 8,000 fans in attendance.

“Some guys told me it was the most impactful game they’d been in during their career,” Prokop said. “They said they didn’t realize how many Queer fans they had. I don’t think they realize how much my community watches hockey, plays hockey and cares about hockey.

The Seattle Pride night was fan-driven, which made it unique. Thunderbirds fans noticed that other rival teams had a special night for Pride and made a push for their own, making bracelets and T-shirts. Prokop told teammates they didn’t have to wear the stick tape — he knows how superstitious hockey players are. They all wore some, for him.

“I always look at the perspective, the other side of Pride nights — why do you have them if no one on the team is gay?” Prokop said. “The point is that it’s for the fans. For me, it means a lot to play in them to show my community and be a representative on the ice.”

While education is important, Prokop said any real change in the NHL when it comes to inclusion will start with other players coming out. He’s not putting any timeline or pressure on that. He didn’t have one. But that’s when players in the league will see a different perspective, get more comfortable with it.

“Otherwise, it’s always going to be a story,” Prokop said. “I also can see why guys don’t want to come out. Especially in the NHL. They’ve been very successful, so why change? I kind of saw that from the perspective when the whole Pride jersey story came out. My phone was blowing up. I don’t think guys want to have to deal with that. There was a responsibility for me to talk about these topics. I don’t think guys want to do that. I can see it from that side, why they don’t want to come out.

“I don’t think anything is going to change unless someone else does. Someone else will step up. It’s only a matter of time. I thought there’d maybe be two, three of us by now. But it hasn’t happened. But I know there’s going to be someone else soon. It’s math. There’s what, 700 players in the league? There’s definitely a few more.”

- - - - - - -

While there have been some derogatory comments coming from the stands on a few occasions, Prokop has been encouraged there have been none from opposing players.

“Zero,” he said.

Most of the feedback he’s received, even on social media, has been positive. And it’s not just the comments like Matthews’ that stick with him. Two high schoolers in Seattle, Kaitlin and Jo, reached out to him over Instagram. They are part of the LGBTQ+ community and were struggling.

“Like everyone, they just wanted someone to talk to,” Prokop said.

Part of Prokop’s pregame routine is usually to hang by the bench and listen to music. On many occasions, Kaitlin and Jo would come by and the three of them would just chat for 10, 12 minutes. They’re the fans that Prokop saw every game above the tunnel on his way to the dressing room. They’ve stayed in touch. Prokop even did a Zoom meeting with their high school class last month. “They have a special place in my heart,” he said.

When, and if, Prokop makes his NHL debut, he says he’ll have a special secret plan for them.

Whether Prokop lives his NHL dream remains to be seen. He’s praised the Predators for their support from the first time he did a group video call with the staff. Former NHLer Mark Borowiecki, now a development coach, has been someone Prokop has leaned on often, not only for on-ice advice but for help getting through things mentally.

Scott Nichol, the Predators’ assistant GM, likes Prokop’s potential.

“Big right-shot defensemen that can skate, move the puck. They don’t grow on trees,” he said. “He just needs to polish up his game in some areas in the defensive zone. He’s got the tools. He’s got the skating ability. It’s just patience and embrace the process.”

Prokop is grateful for his support group, from his parents, Al and Nicole, to his brother, Josh, and sister, Alanna. He’s kept in touch with Heather Lefebvre, who is a specialist in hockey engagement and alumni relations with the Oilers Entertainment Group. They talk almost every day. What sticks out to Lefebvre is how young Prokop was when he came out (19), and while he wears this “trailblazer” cap, he’s still standing alone.

“I think this generation is more ready for it than past generations, for sure,” Lefebvre said. “It says a lot to me that nobody else has come out in the year and a half since he has. He’s the only openly gay player under NHL contract, but he’s not the only gay player under NHL contract.

“That’s where I think we have work to do. Is it great that he’s been accepted and can do his thing? Yes. But he looks at the positives, which makes me really happy for him. But that doesn’t mean there’s no negative.”

Prokop takes the positives in his off-ice life, too. He lives with Alanna in the offseason back home in Edmonton. He’s found teammates to share in his hobbies, like golf (he plays 40 to 50 rounds a year). He loves to read, from biographies to sci-fi. He watches basketball more than hockey and has more than 25 jerseys. He cooks. He got into puzzles during the pandemic and is bullish about doing them on his own.

Prokop also feels comfortable getting out there on the dating scene and not having to hide it from teammates.

“Obviously, the lifestyle of a hockey player is tough for some people,” he said. “I’m trying to find the right person to connect with. I’m a softie, a romantic guy. I love love. I’m always on the lookout for that right person to spend the rest of my life with.”

Prokop doesn’t see the label of being the first openly gay player under NHL contract as a weight. It’s more of a responsibility. He has a platform and wants to use it. He’s realistic, “dreaming about winning the community service award more than the Norris Trophy.”

Making the AHL jump or someday the NHL jump won’t define him.

“One of my main goals when I came out is that if I could have an impact on one person outside of my family and friends in my lifetime, I’ve done my job,” he said. “I think I’ve done that and more. And I want to continue to do that.”

[power2myheart]

Happy 18th birthday Caleb 🤍

[lovesick-menagerie]

🙃💦 i think tumblr wants me to suffer

[wingswithhotsauce]

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Congrats on your first NHL goal, Dylan!! 🙌

[pinkhousesisterhoodfamily]

For familia.

[willysnylander]

may i humbly request a mcdrai edit

you absolutely can, my dear ashley!! here ya go!! <3

send me a player/ship and i’ll make a moodboard for it!!

[korshrimpski]

Now this is the off season content I fw, matching outfits while drinking cold ones golfing, perfect

Just gotta say dylan guenther I love you

[sunshine-gumdrop]

Guess which team I support!

I saw the post about complimenting other teams, so here's mine!

Anaheim Ducks: Still ducks, but at least they’re not waddling anymore. Slowly growing those wings.

Arizona Coyotes: At least they have a loyal fan base, even if it fits inside a Starbucks.

Boston Bruins: Great season, but that playoff curse is harder to shake than Brad Marchand’s chirping.

Buffalo Sabres: Always the underdog, but hey, they're like the Oilers pre-McDavid—on the rise, baby!

Calgary Flames: Flames? It's more like a flicker compared to the Oilers' firepower. It’s OK, Alberta’s still ours.

Carolina Hurricanes: Fast, sure, but they’ve got nothing on McDavid’s warp speed.

Chicago Blackhawks: Bedard is fun, but we’ll remind you that it takes more than one superstar to rival our McDavid and Draisaitl.

Colorado Avalanche: Mackinnon’s great, no doubt, but if McDavid turned up the speed any higher, Nate might need a head start... and a jetpack.

Columbus Blue Jackets: At least they’ve got the coolest name in the league... and, um, yeah, that’s it.

Dallas Stars: Stars may shine, but our Oilers are burning brighter. Yee-haw!

Detroit Red Wings: Historic? Sure. But our present is more exciting, don’t you think?

Edmonton Oilers: We’ve got McDavid, Draisaitl, and enough offensive firepower to make the league tremble. No bias here, just facts.

Florida Panthers: Sure, you had your Cinderella run, but your glass slipper cracked—better luck next time.

Los Angeles Kings: Kings? More like court jesters when McDavid’s on the ice. But hey, we appreciate the entertainment!

Minnesota Wild: A solid team with strong defense, but they sure aren’t ready to face our playoff onslaught.

Montreal Canadiens: Young team, lots of history, but it’ll be another century before you catch our firepower.

Nashville Predators: Cool jerseys, great fans, but you’ll need a lot more to take down the Oil.

New Jersey Devils: Fast and flashy, but McDavid could still skate circles around them blindfolded.

New York Islanders: Defensive wizards, but offense wins games. You’ve seen our highlight reels, right?

New York Rangers: Great in theory, but let’s be honest—nobody’s pulling the spotlight away from Edmonton.

Ottawa Senators: Keep rebuilding, maybe by the time McDavid retires, you’ll be playoff-ready.

Philadelphia Flyers: The Broad Street Bullies are more like baby bulls next to the Oilers’ charging offense.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Old guard, meet the new era. Your time was great, but it’s McDavid’s league now.

San Jose Sharks: Shark Tank? More like a kiddie pool.

Seattle Kraken: Second season was fun, but Edmonton’s got a dynasty in the making—good luck keeping up.

St. Louis Blues: Still riding that 2019 wave, but the tides have shifted north.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The storm’s fading, Tampa. There’s a new powerhouse in town—guess who?

Toronto Maple Leafs: Sure, you have history and a massive fan base, but when was the last time you outscored the Oilers?

Vancouver Canucks: At least the jerseys are nice, right? Yeah, we’re taking that playoff spot.

Vegas Golden Knights: Congrats on the Cup, but let’s be real, you had to avoid us to get it.

Washington Capitals: Ovechkin’s a beast, but nothing out there scares our Oilers’ scoring squad.

Winnipeg Jets: Close neighbors, but we’re the big brothers on this block, and it shows every game.

I couldn't tag dallas and Detroit...

[puckthisshift]

Time after Time: how are the -you're kinda sexy but you're not really special-guys doing in like 10 years?

Okay, so they'd be in their early/mid-thirties.

I like to think that Matty has worked his way up to becoming an assistant coach or mentor of some kind for the Edmonton Oil Kings, helping teenagers with a world of pressure on their shoulders deal with the challenges of trying to go pro. He's getting to a point where the kids are more likely to call him Matt than Matty, and he's feeling some kind of way about it.

Leon is still working for the Oilers as some kind of athletic therapist, often traveling with the team. He and Connor are still friends, which is something a lot of new teammates are confused about. As he's gotten older, people have started to forget about third overall Draisaitl, and he just gets to be Leon.

Matthew and Leon have a house - not huge but with a yard big enough for Bowie. There's a guest room that mostly gets used by Yamo when he's in town, and there's a box hidden underneath the bathroom sink that's waiting until Leon finds the right moment. He's been waiting a year or so.

Matty has known of its existence for nine months and he's getting impatient.

They have had sex in every single room of their house at least three times, and in various parts of Rogers Place. It's considered an Oilers right of passage to find them making out or fooling around somewhere. They save the bondage and kink for their bedroom.

Bitte still works.

[imperatorrrrr]

mayhaps, you're wondering, "hey T, who are you rooting for in the 'yoffs anyhow?"

well...

Carolina Hurricanes v. New York Islanders - New York Islanders. They are an acceptable Metro team, and we can all agree the Rags suck, which is a massive plus point in my eyes. And I mean, why in the world would I ever root for the Canes. I'm a Devils fan, let's be serious for a moment.

Boston Bruins v. Toronto Maple Leafs - Boston Bruins. Look, the Bruins are in my top three most hated teams, and the Leafs are in the following tier. To me the Leafs are just Canada's Yankees. AM34 is just another Derek Jeter variant. If it wasn't made clear, I am a Mets fan, and I've been a Mets fan longer than I've been a Devils fan and I've been a Devils fan for over two decades. You'd think given that logic, I'd choose the team I hated less, which would be the Leafs, but nope. I mean, I want to pick neither. I would rather pick neither. Don't ask me to explain my brain. It is what it is.

Florida Panthers v. Tampa Bay Lightning - Florida Panthers. This is almost purely because I've been Catspilled by the Discord. Do you understand how much I viscerally disliked the Panthers up until mere months ago. I still don't actually like them, but I wouldn't be upset if they won, so there. Sigh. Thanks, I hate it. Another match up where I'd rather have neither. Another matchup of hated teams.

New York Rangers v. Washington Capitals - Washington Capitals. For one series only, I am a Caps believer. When I tell you, I dislike the Caps so heavily, so so so deeply. Its so historic. But you know what team I hate the most ever because they're cops...the Rags. So this is actually so incredibly straightforward. Anyone but the Rags is the policy here on imperatorrrrr dot tumblr dot com. The East is mostly just unwatchable for me and mostly just filled with matchups of teams I hate.

Winnipeg Jets v. Colorado Avalanche - Colorado Avalanche. This is easy. Fuck the Jets. I like the Avs.

Vancouver Canucks v. Nashville Predators - Vancouver Canucks. This is the team I am rooting for to go all the way. This is the team I have transferred all of my Devils emotions onto. This is the team that I have chosen. Fun fact tho! I actually wouldn't be entirely mad about the Preds making it either, but the Nuckies are my playoff team. They're also like my third favorite team, so.

Dallas Stars v. Vegas Golden Knights - Dallas Stars. Like I think I'm in the pipeline to become a full fledged Stars fan, but I'm not completely there yet, ya feel? In the meantime tho, definitely rooting for them against Vegas. Here's the thing, fuck Vegas right. Like fuck 'em. Here's policy numero dos here on imperatorrrrr dot tumblr dot come: anyone but the Knights.

Edmonton Oilers v. Los Angeles Kings - Los Angeles Kings. Another lesser of two evils situation here. Kings dislike is historic as in 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs historic right. Oilers hatred is more visceral? More of the moment? I'm softening on my Kings historic dislike. I mean look at me, I'm rooting for the Avs. Do you understand that any Devils fan worth their salt in the early 2000s absolutely did not like the Avs? And look at me now! So yeah, this is mostly I don't want the Oils to win, so the Kings it is! Oh, here's a west coast matchup of hated teams. Some variety in the mix!

there you have it folks! a rooting summary for Round One for those interested!

[halliewriteshockey]

I posted 1,174 times in 2022

857 posts created (73%)

317 posts reblogged (27%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@greymichaela

@paulkariyas

@thequeencity

@maljic

@phoebesbridgers

I tagged 1,005 of my posts in 2022

Only 14% of my posts had no tags

#hockey - 622 posts

#chris kreider - 211 posts

#mika zibanejad - 208 posts

#the ongoing love story of chris and mika - 134 posts

#hockey rpf - 124 posts

#goalies - 113 posts

#cats are stupid and awesome - 57 posts

#michaela writes - 42 posts

#chris/mika - 37 posts

#rangers - 25 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#mika's like 'but if you shave your head how can i pull your hair' and suddenly chris decides the q-tip look isn't all it's cracked up to be

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

This is fine

230 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#4

The Edmonton Oil Kings (Luke Prokop’s team) just won the WHL Championship, which proves the gays can’t stop winning

231 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

#3

Chris serenading Mika with his own version of Story of My Life: “I drive the net, Mika snipes, we celly in the corner”

269 notes - Posted December 4, 2022

#2

“average person destroys 1000 mouthguards a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person destroys 0 mouthguards per year. Mouthguards Matthew, who lives in Calgary & destroys over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

269 notes - Posted May 18, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

All I’m saying is maybe society has evolved past the need for the Tampa Bay Lightning

576 notes - Posted May 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

~~~

I STAND BY ALL OF IT, TOO

[yegarts]

"I am YEG Arts" Series: Jeff Collins

Jeff Collins at Collins Studio Gallery. Photo provided by the artist.

For Jeff Collins, the key to having a successful career as an artist is showing up every day. His consistency and commitment have defined his long career. “The inspiration shows up when you’re at work,” are words he lives by.  At the end of his studies, advice he received from his Red Deer College painting instructor, Joseph Reeder, to “forget everything he’d been taught,” inspired him to lock himself away in his studio for six months and shut out all distractions. During that pivotal time nearly 30 years ago, his practice in landscape painting took form, and he’s maintained a studio in Edmonton ever since. In 2019, he took a big leap with the opening of Collins Studio Gallery, which serves as his working studio, a classroom where he teaches oil painting, and a gallery that welcomes community and is an exhibition space for emerging artists and curators to show their work.

This week on the YEG Arts blog, we catch up with Jeff Collins.  

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and what keeps you living and working here.  

I was born in Edmonton and studied through high school here. I moved away for about ten years and during that time, I lived in Jasper. In Jasper, I had my first apartment and when I wanted to put art up on the walls, everything I saw was just cliché posters, and so I thought “I can do better than this, look at all the scenery around Jasper.” My mother was a painter, so it was always part of my life although I didn’t pursue it much until then. With some encouragement from those who saw my early work, I decided to study art and design at Red Deer College [now known as Red Deer Polytechnic] and the University of Alberta. I then went on to Grant MacEwan Community College [now MacEwan University] to study arts administration. 

After returning to Edmonton, it was really the first time I was part of the arts community here and it was just so supportive and amazing. Some of the highlights for me at that time (the early nineties) was the Works Art & Design Festival. They were so, so instrumental in creating community and making Edmonton a supportive place for artists. Latitude 53 was an influential gallery for me, also Arts Habitat Edmonton, and of course the amazing river valley and the fabulous people here. I’ve been here ever since working away as an artist and really being part of the community.    

By Jeff Collins (left to right clockwise): Turtle in the Woods 001, acrylic on paper; Heartland, acrylic on canvas; and King of the North, acrylic on canvas. Photo provided by the artist.

What’s one of the biggest professional risks you’ve taken, and how did it influence where you are today?

As an artist, you take risks every single day and you’re putting yourself out there, and if you’re true to your craft, you’re really pulling deep inside of you to pull that out and to put it out there, where other people can see it. That’s always so risky. It’s kind of like every day as an artist is a risk. I worked at the Alberta Craft Council for many years and when I decided to quit and work full-time in my studio, that was a pretty huge risk financially. I am very happy that I did that, though it’s always been a gig-to-gig kind of thing since, and I worked out of my studio between contract positions. It’s been four years — I can’t believe it — since I opened Collins Studio Gallery! I signed a lease, and I trusted that if this is meant to be, it was going to happen. So, leaving my full-time job and signing the lease on where I am now and opening a gallery — where I also teach classes and have my studio — were all big risks! Sometimes I think “well I don’t take any risks,” but other times I think, “well, I guess everything I do is kind of risky,” depending on how you look at it. 

What does community mean to you, and where do you find it?

One thing I enjoy about Edmonton is that the art community is so supportive, diverse, and I find it’s non-competitive. When I think of community, what I really think of is everyone really supporting each other and looking after each other and knowing that you can rely on that community when you’re having hard times. I find that so rich in Edmonton. There are great things about other cities for sure, but I feel there’s a little more competition elsewhere. I find Edmonton is a lot more collaborative, even in between disciplines, for instance musicians and dancers will team up with painters to put on a show, and that’s really cool! 

I’ve met some great people. Will Truchon and Vince Gasparri, whom I’ve known since Red Deer College days, and I have decided to pool our resources and talents to bring some exciting visual art and collaborative events, including experimental electronic music to the gallery [Collins Studio Gallery]. The idea is to stimulate an even more collaborative and dynamic art community in Edmonton where people are allowed to take risks creatively and have it shown before the public.

This is what I want my gallery to be, a community gallery where I can facilitate things that aren’t necessarily shown in other places and if I can allow that to happen, I mean I’ve got the space and if you’ve got an idea, come to me and let’s see how we can make it happen. 

sKiN performs live in front of collaborative paintings from Stop, Drop, and Paint at Collins Studio Gallery. sKiN features Jason Dublanko on lead guitar and vocals, Tim Rechner on drums, and Mike Garth on saxophone. Photo provided by the artist.

Tell us about how collaborating has changed the direction of your work. 

One of the music events at my gallery, we call “Shapes and ‘Scapes,” is where we team up musicians with painters to do an experimental electronic improv music and painting set. Usually, it’s a 20-minute set and it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve become a lot more experimental in my work and one reason is that I was involved in a “Shapes and ‘Scapes.”  I completed a painting in the time frame whereas it usually takes me a month or so to make a landscape painting. I really wanted to see what I could do and really push myself to experiment, and I came up with something that I thought was interesting, and from there I’ve really pushed my painting. Another reason that my work is in the experimental stage is that during Covid, like many of us, there was some personal tragedy in my family, and because of that I decided to take a year off, a kind of sabbatical away from painting. It’s been almost a year now since I’ve come back to it.  

What qualities overlap in being an artist, teacher, and gallery owner? How have you grown most in each role?

They overlap in that they all involve getting over fears, that’s for sure. With painting, looking deep inside of yourself and bringing that forward, that’s kind of a fearful act to do, to be really honest with yourself and bring something out that other people can see. When I first started out teaching, I was really fearful, I wanted my students to like me and didn’t want to waste their time. But then, I realized that with that fear, I was thinking of myself! I was able to turn it around and focus on each student. And as a gallery owner, again I keep on thinking, what can I give to people? Not, “oh I hope they like my gallery when they come in,” it’s like what can I give to them because they’ve come in here and maybe they want to learn something about art or maybe they’ve never been in an art gallery, and I try to make my space really kind of a community gallery.  How I’ve grown in each role is just an evolution. 

Earlier landscape paintings in oil by Jeff Collins (left to right): Islet Lake; Tamarack in Jasper; Lake Isle. Photo provided by the artist.

Tell us about what you’re currently working on or hoping to explore next.

For the nearly 30 years that I’ve been painting, I’ve been painting pretty traditional, great Canadian landscapes. For a while now I’ve wanted to push that in a new direction and with the “Shapes and ‘Scapes,” where I had 20 minutes in front of people to actually do it, I just got out of my way and made it happen. It took a long time for that 20 minutes to actually happen. I’m now exploring symbols that have meaning to me, and they may be symbols that other people use or have picked up on but they’re all symbols from my life that I’ve experienced. There’s also a spiritual aspect to my work. At one time it was all about me being present in this time, in this world, in this physical realm, so it was very important to me to paint actual places and get inspiration on location and take that back into the studio. Now it’s more like ok, that’s my physical body or physical being speaking to my spiritual being and now I feel like exploring symbols and what they mean to me and now it’s the other way around and my spiritual being is reacting to the physical world around me.

Recent abstracts (acrylic, oil, collage and gel transfer) and a winter landscape in oil by Jeff Collins. Photo provided by the artist.

What excites you most about the YEG arts scene right now?  

After two years of not going out and seeing hardly anything, it all really excites me. I did a music show in my gallery last month where it was sold out, there were about 35 people in here — it’s a small gallery! The collaborative work that’s going on between different disciplines excites me, the festivals coming back and gaining traction, I love that. I’m really excited about what’s going on in the Alberta Avenue district, and Arts on the Ave is spearheading all of those things. The Kaleido Family Arts Festival and Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival, for me, they are my favourite festivals in Edmonton because they’re so eclectic and you get to see it all in such a short period of time, it is a lot of fun. I’m really excited to see where things are going to go next, as well. I’ll quote the Tragically Hip, “bring on a brand-new renaissance.” It’s what I feel we’re going into here, a rebirth. 

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Jeff Collins and Collins Studio Gallery.   

About Jeff Collins

Jeff Collins is an artist living in Edmonton, with nearly 30 years of studio practice. His formal studies were at Red Deer College (now known as Red Deer Polytechnic) and the University of Alberta. Jeff has received many awards and recognition for his artwork, notably the Telus Courage to Innovate in the Arts Award. In 2013/14 he served as the City of Edmonton’s inaugural Artist in Residence. His paintings have sold nationally and internationally. As an art educator and facilitator, he strives to connect people to art and creativity, encouraging skill-building, laughter and personal growth.    

While he’s made a name for himself painting landscapes in oil for most of his career as an artist, he also loves to paint still-lifes, figures and almost anything else he sees and encounters in the natural world. Jeff is also fascinated with abstraction and using the properties of paint with the formal elements of painting and drawing to express emotions and captivate viewers. 

In 2019, Jeff opened Collins Studio Gallery in the area of Alberta Avenue in Edmonton. It serves as his working studio, classroom where he teaches beginner and advanced oil painting, and exhibition space where emerging artists and curators are given an opportunity to show their work in front of a public audience.  

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