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KEVIN COLE
The wall sculpture was on view in the exhibition “Kevin Cole: Soul Ties,” which was cut short by the novel coronavirus pandemic but lives on on the museum’s website. One of six children, Cole was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1960 to Sam and Jessie Mae Cole, a mortician and a cafeteria worker. After earning an undergraduate degree in art education at the Univer- sity of Arkansas, Cole received a master’s degree in painting and art education from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Cham- paign, followed by a master of fine arts degree in drawing from Northern Illinois University. He taught art in the Atlanta public school system for decades. In December, he received a Georgia Governor’s Award for the Arts and Humanities. His work fea- tures explosive curvilinear forms inspired by neckties that evoke lynchings. The motif channels memories of struggle and pain but also personal triumph to inspire hope and change.
Early in 2020, Larry and Brenda Thompson purchased Kevin Cole’s “Seeking Blessing I” for the museum’s collection.
Kevin E. Cole (American, b. 1960), “Seeking Blessing I,” 2011. Mixed media on wood, 47 × 78 × 11 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson. GMOA 2020.13.
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