CAROLYN COLE
Art has always occupied a significant place in Carolyn Cole's life. She has expressed, that to her the creative process is a fusion of the life experience which combines emotional content, observation, technical skill, exploration, humor and reinvention--in a way that is tangible and immensely satisfying.
For her, painting is a passion. She loves to create surfaces that are visually intriguing and mysterious, with expressive colors and shapes. Each of her paintings has many layers of paint. She begins each one on canvas or paper, painting on thin collaged papers over and over, continuing until a rich texture emerges. Carolyn uses acrylic paints, gouache, pencils and charcoal. Afterward, working with copies of old handwritten letters, pages from old books and found objects, all as collage elements under the painted surfaces. She paints over the images, obstructing much of the text and paint into exposed areas. By building up layers of paint and collage, the paintings become infused with a cultural history, at the same time allowing the viewer to create a personal history.
This series of paintings reveals the introspective part of her personality. Each one is inspired by its collaged elements and the layers from her past and present. She hopes that they reflect her desire to paint and intense need to create work that expresses that desire.
She graduated magna cum laude from Portland State University with a B.A. in Painting. Since then, she has exhibited in numerous galleries on the West Coast, Chicago, New York and Washington, D. C. Her work is in the collection of corporations such as CIGNA Corporation, Zale Corporation and Manufacturers Hanover Trust, NY, IBM Corporation, CT and NY, Campbell Soup Company, NJ, Asia Europe America Bank, WA, Walt Disney Productions, The Heinz Corporation and First Interstate Bank, CA, Kaiser Permanente, OR, TRW Corporation, OH and Salton, Inc., IL, as well as in numerous private collections.
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