Meet Colin McKinnon - Our Glass Blowing Rotarian
Colin is a talented artist.
Joining the Mowbray Arch Society at the Chrysler Museum several years ago was a key element in Rotarian Colin McKinnon’s working with glass at the art museum. The Society gathers for dinners and speakers and dues go to buy a piece of art for the Museum. A couple of years after Colin joined, the Society voted to add a glass piece by Harvey Littleton who helped to found the studio glass movement in the United States.
Colin had long had an appreciation for the glass collection at the Chrysler Museum. Kelly Conway, then the curator of glass, encouraged Colin to take a class in glass blowing at Tidewater Community College about five years ago. One class led to Colin taking more classes and becoming proficient in this art form. In 2012, Colin’s glass creation, Rust with Green Stripes, won the TCC Student Art Council Award for Excellence.
When the Chrysler Museum decided to add a glass-blowing studio, Colin was an enthusiastic supporter and became one of the original volunteers in the Assistantship program. This program enables seven or eight volunteers to work one day a week at the Museum. Most of the time, the people in the Assistantship program are recent college graduates with degrees in Fine Arts and this gives them the opportunity to get some experience at a Museum which is known for its glass collection. It helps the glass studio to run more efficiently. It also enables the participants to get their own time to blow the glass.
Colin grew up in Washington D.C. where his father, Arnold, was a Southern Railway attorney. His first exposure to Rotary was accompany his father to meetings. After high school, Colin went to Duke University for undergraduate and graduate degrees. He worked for a while in the Raleigh-Durham before accepting a job in Norfolk with Goodman, Segar, & Hogan to help develop small shopping centers. After a couple of years, Colin helped formed a company with a partner. Their first project was an auto care center. Over the years, the firm has developed mostly office warehouses.
While in Raleigh-Durham a friend invited him Colin to join a Rotary Club in Cary. Although he didn’t immediately continue in Rotary in Norfolk, the story continues. His father by this time had relocated to Norfolk. Upon his retirement from Norfolk Southern, Colin’s father, Arnold, joined our club. A couple of years later, Colin also joined. Colin has enjoyed many of the projects which has enabled him to get to know club members better as well as the excellent speakers. Colin is currently on the Club’s board of directors and oversees community service.
As a child, his family would travel to North Carolina to visit with grandparents. On the way, which was then a ten hour trip, they would stop by Roanoke Rapids to visit with family friends. Colin developed a friendship with one of the girls on the many trips. During the time Colin was studying for his M.B.A., Patt was also studying at Duke. They fell in love and got married. Today they have a son who is enrolled in the Stanford Business School and a daughter who is living in Columbus, Ohio. Both are Duke graduates like their parents.
In addition to his glass blowing activities, Colin and Patt enjoy spending time at the beach and traveling. He also enjoys playing tennis, boating, and cooking with Patt.