Carolyn Cole is an artist for whom painting is a necessity, an outlet for her emotions.  Painting acts as a conduit for her energy and passion for life. 

 

Cole is obsessed with the act of painting. She took her first painting classes during college and it changed the course of her life completely. She realized that making art would be a difficult life financially, but she was driven. Even during many years of hardship, she continued to make art daily. Nothing stopped her from creating. Now her paintings are collected throughout the world and she has exhibited and been collected by museums and art galleries nationally.

 

Her abstractions play to the senses and the heart. She deploys color, mass, composition, and line to command attention, mesmerize, and draw us into places of her own making. Once there, we are allowed to wander at will. Here, we are left to discover the incidents and clues she leaves behind to tantalize, provoke and intrigue.

 

At first glance, Cole’s works appear to be simply paint on canvas. A longer look reveals that they are composed through a purposeful, multi-phased process that includes collage, painting, and drawing. In her latest series, she builds up the canvas with pages from old art and architecture books. She creates an overall grid of lines and rectangles with these book pages, giving her a painting surface that is both smooth to the touch and rich to the eye. The structure of the final work is already invested in the prepared canvas. The underlying architecture provides the essential dimension, strength and balance to Cole’s work.

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SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2019    Westbrook Modern Galleries, Carmel, California

2019    Gruen Galleries, Chicago, Illinois

2018    Menerbe, France Artist Residency

2018    Gallery 903, Portland, Oregon

2017    Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2017    Annie Meyer Gallery, Portland, Oregon

2015    Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa, Oklahoma

2015    Aberson Exhibits, Tulas, Oklahoma
2015    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon

2015    Portland International Airport, Portland, Oregon

2014    Gruen Galleries, Chicago, IL

2014    SAM Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
2014    Washington County Museum, Hillsboro, Oregon
2013    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon 
2013    Mark Gallery, Englewood, New Jersey
2012    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2012    Gallery KH, Chicago, Illinois
2012    Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa, Oklahoma
2011    Gallery KH, Chicago, Illinois
2011    Gallery IMA, Seattle, Washington
2011    The William and Joseph Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010    The William and Joseph Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010    Gallery IMA, Seattle, Washington
2010    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2009    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2009    The William and Joseph Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2009    Gallery KH, Chicago, Illinois
2008    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2008    Mary Bell Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
2008    The William and Joseph Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2006    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2006    Davis and Cline Galleries, Ashland, Oregon
2006    Cohen Rese Gallery, San Francisco, California
2006    “Infusion 3”, Deloney Newkirk Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2005    Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2004    Don O’Melveny Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2003    Highlands Sculpture Gallery, Carmel, California
2003    Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2002    Mary Bell Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2002    Cohen Rese Gallery, San Francisco, California
2001    Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2000    Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1998    Alysia Duckler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1997    Cabell Gallery, Catlin-Gable School, Portland, Oregon
1996    Spokane Performing Arts Center, Spokane, WA
1996    American Institute of Architects, Portland, OR
1991    55 Mercer Street Gallery, New York, New York
1987    Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1985    Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1981    Fountain Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1979    Arts Place Gallery, Portland, Oregon
1979    Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1978    Willamette University, Salem, Oregon
1977    Anne Hughes Gallery, Portland, Oregon

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2014    “Abstraction,” Woolff Gallery, London, UK
2013    “Artist to Artist” collaborative four-artist installation, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
2013    Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
2013    KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, California
2012    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2011    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2010    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2009    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2009    Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, New York
2009    Gallery IMA, Seattle, Washington
2008    Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, Florida
2008    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2008    Art in Embassies Exhibition, American Embassy, Doha, Qatar
2007    AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, New York
2007    Red Dot Art Fair, New York, New York
2006     Mary Bell Galleries, Chicago, Illinois
2006     AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY
2005     AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY
2004     AAF Contemporary Art Fair, New York, NY
2004    “Gesturing,” Butters Gallery, Portland, Oregon
2004    “Abstracte Elegant,” Don O’Melveny Gallery Los Angeles, California
2003     Cohen Rese Gallery, San Francisco, California
2003     San Francisco International Art Fair, San Francisco, California
2002     San Francisco International Art Fair, San Francisco, California
2001    “Text,” Seattle Art Museum Gallery, Seattle, Washington
2000    Mary Bell Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1999     “Art Slate 1998,” Condon, Oregon
1999     Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1992     Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Annual Exhibit, Brooklyn, New York
1991      Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Annual Exhibit, Brooklyn, New York
1990     “Ten Downtown,” Artists in General Gallery, New York, New York
1989       La Mama Galleria, New York, New York
1988      “The All Male Feminist Show,” New Waterfront Museum, New York, New York
1989      “Curator’s Choice,” White Columns, New York,  New York
1988      Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park Annual Outdoor  Sculpture Show, New York, NY                 
1987      “Art, Bridges, Space,” New York, New York
1986      “Ten on Eight,” New York, New York
1986       “On the Edge,” Temporary Edge Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
1986       Donald Wren Gallery, New York, New York
1985       Ninth Annual Small Works Show, New York  University, New York, New York
1984       “Seven New York Artists-New Abstraction,” R Street Gallery, Washington D.C.
1983       “On, Of and About Paper,” Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
1982        Brooklyn Museum Annual Exhibit, Brooklyn,  New York
1980        “Paper Works,” traveling exhibit to six Western States
1979        “Works on Paper,” White Gallery, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon
1978        “Five Artists of Oregon,” Corvallis Art Center,  Corvallis, Oregon
1978        Invitational Exhibit, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington
1977        “Mixed Media and Technique,” Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
1977        “Artists of Oregon 1977,” Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
1977        “In Touch: Nature, Ritual and Sensuous Art from the Northwest, Portland Center for  Visual Art, Portland, Oregon
1977        “60th Annual Exhibition,” Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
1977        “Contemporary Issues:  Works on Paper by Women,” Los Angeles, California
1976        “Artists of Oregon-Paperwork II,” Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon