Catherine Cole

Catherine Cole
Adjunct Faculty
2D Design, Printmaking, Digital Printmaking
2050 Art and Design Building; MSN: 1C3
(703) 993 – 8898
ccolea@gmu.edu

Catherine Cole is a printmaker whose prints and drawings have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in the Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region and in Rhode Island.  Catherine received a B.A. in Studio Art with a concentration in printmaking from The College of William and Mary and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. Catherine has been an Adjunct Instructor of Printmaking and Studio Foundations at George Mason University since the Fall of 2016.

When not working on her art or teaching, Catherine enjoys playing viola in the Manassas Symphony Orchestra, blues and swing dancing, reading, baking, photography, and spending time with friends and family, especially her identical twin sister. 

ARITST STATEMENT

As an identical twin, my desire to distinguish myself from my sister inspired me to do a series of art projects in high school in which I attempted to show our differences. This led me to a longstanding interest in representation, in how to depict likenesses and express qualities beyond the immediate, superficial appearance of people, places and things. I do this through the use of light and shadow, gesture, placement, and color. I see my work as a continuation of the spirit long shared with artists throughout history that perceives the spectacle and beauty of the common and everyday. My current range of subject matter is drawn from my day-to-day experiences, encounters, and whatever visually moves me. Often it falls into traditional subjects such as portraiture, figure drawing, still life, landscape, interiors, animals, and genre scenes. My subjects may be personal and intimate or formal and impersonal, depending on which is greater: my interest in the subject or the creative process at the time. By confining myself to subjects accessible to me, such as objects I possess or places I visit or pass through, I aim to maintain some form of originality and individual expression in my work by showing my own point-of-view, rooted in my hope to share and elevate the enduring qualities and beauty of the everyday. 

I work in drawing, painting, and photography, with occasional forays into collage, mixed media, and artist books, but printmaking is my first love and my go-to medium. The visceral, textural qualities in each printmaking medium (such as woodcut, etching and aquatint, lithography and screenprinting), and the ability to bring out various nuances in meaning and moods from a single image by changing variables such as ink color, paper, and pressure, ultimately draws me to the printmaking media.