Kevin Cole

Kevin Cole is an African-American mixed media artist and educator based in Atlanta, GA. Cole’s artwork is well known for incorporating patterns and textures from traditional African cloths to speak to human conditions and behaviors. His work often explores the interplay between color and music and is particularly influenced by the musical art forms birthed by African American culture: such as jazz, blues, rap, and gospel.

Cole earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 1982, a Master of Arts degree in Art Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana a year later, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Drawing from Northern Illinois University in 1984. 

Over the last few decades, Cole has received 27 grants and fellowships, 66 awards in art, 51 teaching awards, and over 45 public art commissions. Cole’s artwork is included in more than 3800 public, private, and corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad ​​, including the new National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, The Detroit Institute of Art in Detroit, MI; The Georgia Museum, Athens, GA, the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CN.; The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, La.; The David C Driskell Center University of Maryland at College Park; Dayton Institute of Art, Dayton, Ohio; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Pa.; The Georgia Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, Ga.; and the Corcoran Museum in Washington, D.C.