A Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Stanford, Masters degrees from Harvard Graduate School of Education and Syracuse University, several years as a high school teacher and more as an educational television producer could not stop Carol Cole from pursuing a full time career as an artist.
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City of Gold, 32″ x 74″ x 6″ {this sculpture is more than six feet wide)
mixed media,handmade paper, tacks, beads, clothespins, hardware
Variations
mixed media, paper pulp, galvanized steel drawer, balls covered, handmade paper
After leaving the academic world Cole became a successful ceramic artist and one of the founders of a crafts cooperative in New York before she discovered the medium that changed her art and her life.
Luna, 46″ x 12″ x 5″
paper pulp, coral, ping pong paddle, found wood and metal, beads, brass tacks
When she moved to Philadelphia she began to explore paper as an artistic medium through her participation in a class that brought artists working in a variety of media together to share ideas and techniques to incorporate papermaking into art. It proved to be a turning point for Cole, who now works exclusively with paper and found objects.
Playthings, 40″ x 51″ x 3″ {this sculpture is more than four feet wide)
handmade paper, mixed media, jacks, clay marbles, golf tees, buttons
Drawing on her previous experience as a ceramicist, she uses the pulp as though it were clay, embedding found objects into the paper and embellishing the constructions with paint, beads and tacks.
Azteca, 20” x 32” x 6”
mixed media, textured paper pulp, found brush, rusty washers, brass tacks
The portfolio images make the sculptures appear deceptively small – the picture below shows several on the wall in her studio – even more delightful! They also look like heavy, ancient artifacts – yet even the large scale pieces weigh only a few pounds.
Cole’s studio – note the size of the sculptures. Seen in the proper scale makes them even more interesting!
“My mixed media sculptures are inspired by the works of ancient and tribal artists and architects — archetypal forms that speak a universal language. As a contemporary artist, however, I take relics of our time — found manufactured items — and by encrusting them with handmade paper, textured paper pulp and embellished with paints, beads, tacks and found objects to transform everyday objects into iconic abstract sculptures.” Carol Cole
More images and information here [/private_archives]
This is beautiful work, extraordinarily original in its concepts and sophisticated in its execution. Through its archetypal images and its contemporary humble materials, it links ancient forms and impulses with our daily and ephemeral lives.