Marilyn Collins:  

After Mcauley HS, with 6 other classmates, I joined the Sisters of Mercy in Fall 1962. I graduated from St. Xavier College in 1967 with a major in Religious Studies, minor in Philosophy (now University and co-ed). I taught in elementary schools from Chicago´s ghettos to farmlands near Indiana from ´67-69, while studying part time at the U of Chicago, Spertus College of Judaica, then in the summer of ´69 in Israel with U of Wisconsin. I left the convent at the end of ’68 with a great education. In the fall of ’69 I started graduate school at Yale from which I eventually earned 2 masters & a doctorate in Judaic and Hebraic Studies. Didn´t stay on campus long, but had great friends in the dept. who blazed the path of feminist criticism of religion – Judith Plaskow, Naomi Goldenberg, and Carol Christ. Back to Israel to Hebrew U in Jerusalem ’72-75 for a real immersion in my field, war, lifelong friends, and trips back. Over the decades I’ve taught Judaic and Hebraic Studies & Women Studies at Yale, Cornell U, & U of Rochester. I’ve made Ithaca NY my home since ’76 – a great progressive and alternative community. I eased out of academia into art, and after trying all the media, chose printmaking. Back to school at Cornell part time from ´97-2000 for painting, lithography & digital prints, and with colleagues there, decided to set up a nfp community fine arts center for print making & hand made books. 3 long trips late...Expand for more