Students study work of Kevin Cole for Black History Month

Mar. 2—In celebration of Black History Month, students at Prince of Peace Catholic School last week were introduced to the work of Atlanta-based artist Kevin Cole.

"They were eager to work with me," Cole said at the school on Thursday as a project of their own that he helped them to create came to completion.

Cole gave senior students a list of names of famous Black inventors, such as George Washington Carver, that they were to do research on. What they found was incorporated into their subsequent artwork as well as what they'd learned of Cole's own artistic style.

Born in Arkansas in 1960, longtime friend and Prince of Peace high school art teacher Joann Winkler said Thursday that as a child Cole was mocked for speaking with a stutter.

His mother encouraged him to express himself with drawn pictures instead. As a result, Cole won his first art contest at age 11.

Then, Cole recalled, after he'd graduated high school and turned 18 years old, he'd decided he didn't want to vote.

To change his mind, Cole's grandfather took him to see a certain tree.

It was there that, when Black men had gone to vote in the past, white people had hung them by the neckties they wore.

The experience had made such a profound impression on Cole that his artwork since has included the shapes of neckties.

Cole went on to earn a bachelors of science degree from the University of Arkansas, then a master's degree in painting and art education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His master of fine arts degree in drawing was earned at Northern Illinois University before he became accepted his first position as an art teacher in 1985.

Over the next 32 years, he'd receive 51 teaching awards.

He's also received numerous awards for his artwork which has been featured in more than 490 exhibitions throughout the United States as well as abroad.

His work has also been a part of more than 4,000 public, private, and corporate collections throughout the world, including private collector Michael Jordan and the public collections of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Coca-Cola Centennial olympic mural for the 1996 Olympic Games is just one of over 45 public artworks Cole has created.

Cole retired from teaching in 2016, but has since traveled the country visiting schools as he did last week at Prince of Peace Catholic School, while also working as a full-time artist out of Atlanta, Georgia.

He often creates painted mixed-media works in wood, aluminum and paper.

The project created by Prince of Peace seniors thus was done in the shapes of neckties on tar paper backing that the students painted colorful symbols onto with Cole's advice given on brush technique and other professional guidance.

The completion and displaying of the project came at the same time of a "Soul Food Luncheon" composed of chicken, cabbages, pumpkin pie and various other dishes made and served by the parents of the school's student body that Principal Joseph Brown, Sr. says has increasingly become more diverse with the passing in January of the Governor's private school bill.

To learn more about artist Kevin Cole or to view and purchase his artwork, visit his website at www.kevinecoleart.com.