If you think Bill Ming’s art is limited to sculptures, you’re in for a surprise. Opening at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art tonight is a display of 22 collages he created in his studio in Newark, England. Called Bermuda: Stories in Memory, the pieces “incorporate maps, popular images, scans of foraged foliage, pages from books, and even elements from old works”.

As explained by the artist, the collection is a selection of moments pulled from the “trunk full of stories in [his] head”.

Some pieces reflect his childhood in Bermuda in the 1940s ― walking to school, playing with other kids, and occasionally getting into mischief. Others capture memories of Britain, where he has lived since 1971.

The exhibit was the brainchild of Bermudian Daisy Gould, who curated both the show and its accompanying book.

The publication highlights Mr Ming’s career, the pieces on display at Masterworks, and his influence on “regional and international artistic narratives”.

Impressed by Mr Ming’s work from years earlier, she tracked down his contact details and sent a cold e-mail to him and his wife, asking if she could visit them in Nottinghamshire.

Once there, she asked the artist if he would consider showing his work at Masterworks.

“I was chuffed to be asked. So I dropped everything else I was doing and just started doing things on Bermuda; I had a lot of stuff ― in my archives, in folders or whatever ― I just sort of took them out and dusted them off and I started to work on these ideas. Within two months, I had the exhibition almost finished, you know, 20 pieces of work.”

The collages are a departure from the large-scale sculptures and assemblage art Mr Ming is known for. He thinks the new pieces will be well received.

“There are abstract things like the devil, Jesus ― they were in my life. It's a mixture of different ideas and different things.”

At the market in Nottinghamshire he frequently buys books, Bermuda’s history is always a fascination.

“There's all these stories that are there, and I just try to use some of them. Growing up here, the books we had were nothing to do with us as people. So I'm just putting my story out there, our story, our history, which becomes a mystery? I don’t know. But I'm enjoying it,” he said.

“I'm not just a sculptor. I'm just an artist who looks at things and tries to create something from them in their experiences. Basically, that's what I do.”

Mr Ming was not widely known locally when his exhibit Homecoming went on display at the Bermuda National Gallery, then newly opened.

For him, Bermuda: Stories in Memory is also a return home. “I'm talking about the island I was born on. I have my stories from the island where my people are,” the 80-year-old said. “I'm talking about my history while I'm still kicking.”

Mr Ming last’s exhibit here was about four years ago.

“I did a slide talk and I brought some little collages with me. That went down pretty well but I'm doing [other things]. Last year, I got a piece of work in the Royal Academy [of Arts] in London, and it's one of my best pieces.”

The work under way in his studio is “very different” from what will be displayed at Masterworks. Included is a 10ft artwork about climate change.

“These stories that I carry with me just came out in this batch of work, but I'm doing bigger work at home in England,” he said.

Age, he believes, isn’t something to worry about. He still dances, and can “rock and roll” even if he no longer owns a guitar.

“I can still get down with the best. If you find something that you love, it will keep you at a certain age. It'll keep you happy, joyful…,” Mr Ming said.

“So 80 is not a bad number to have. I know my mates have now gone ‘through the trees’, as they say, but I'm still here kicking. I don't know how long I'll last, but I will continue doing what I do, and explore all the things that I think are important, or even not important.”

Completely self-taught, it took a while for Mr Ming to understand that his artistry was “a way out”.

“When I worked for The Royal Gazette, when I was 15 years old, I was still drawing, I was still designing badges or posters for the vocal groups that were here. I was always doing art, but I didn't know I could make a living, or my career could be in it.

“It took me a long time to build up the courage to pursue it, but I've always done it.”

On the advice of a visiting New Yorker he left the island to “go and find [his] way”.

For a while he was a merchant seaman, but ultimately earned a degree from Maidstone College of Art in Kent, in 1979.

“Even as a child at school, the teachers knew I had talent. So what they would do, if we had religious studies, I would be drawing maps on the blackboard. At Christmas time it would be Santa Claus, Easter it would be Easter bunnies. I was always doing something and they always gave me encouragement to pursue this. I just had it,” he said.

In his Devonshire neighbourhood Mr Ming was the person other kids would turn to for help when they wanted to make “stuff”.

“Go karts, motorcycles ― painting the tanks and dressing like [the Harley-riding hippies in the 1969 film] Easy Rider ― all this was my inspiration.”

The music of his era ― his beloved blues and the rock band Steppenwolf ― also helped shape the collages in Bermuda: Stories in Memory as did random papers and books he found in his studio.

“All the things I had saved ― torn up bits and a poem I wrote back in the early Sixties ― I would use some of the words. It’s just sharing with other people the things left behind. I just hope I don’t get sued because of something I nicked,” he laughed. “But that's something that’s done. Picasso did it in his collages and they didn’t make him pay.”

• Bermuda: Stories in Memory opens tonight at Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, in the Botanical Gardens, Paget, with a reception from 5.30pm until 7pm. RSVP athttps://shorturl.at/HJjIr. Curator Daisy Gould will give a talk at Masterworks on Tuesday from 5.30pm until 7pm; Bill Ming will discuss his work on Thursday at the same time. Admission is free for members; $10 for non-members. Mr Ming will also host a collage and assemblage workshop on Saturday, March 22 from 10am to noon. The exhibit runs until May 10. For more information visit masterworks.org