Meet Kevin Cole of Fairburn

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Cole.

Hi Kevin , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Kevin Cole an award-winning international artist/educator born in Pine Bluff Arkansas received his Bashlors of Science Degree in art education from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Master of Art is art education from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and a Master of Fine Art in Drawing from Northern Illinois University at Dekalb where he was a Rhoten A. Smith Scholar. Within the last 32 years, he has received 31 grants and fellowships, 66 awards in art and 51 teaching awards. Some of the awards are 2025 Outstanding Retired Art Educator of the Year by the Georgia Art Education Association,2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from Salem Bible Church Atlanta, GA, Georgia Trend Magazine named him one of the Most Notable Georgians in 2023. The 2022 Working Artist Fellowship from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, the 2020 Georgia Governor’s Award in the Arts, the 2020 Trail Blazer Award from Salem Bible Church in Atlanta, GA, the 2020 Brenda and Larry Thompson Award from the Georgia Museum in Athens GA, the 2019 Nexus Award from the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta, GA. He was also inducted in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2018. Teaching Awards include Teacher of the Year at Camp Creek Middle School 1985, Teacher of the Year Woodland Middle School 1990, Turner Broadcasting Super Teacher of the Year 1998, Georgia Secondary Art Educator Year 2003 and Southeastern Region National Art Educator of the year in 2004, Teacher of the Year Westlake High School 2013 to name a few.
His artwork has been featured in more than 500 exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad. Cole’s artwork is included in more than 4800 public, private, and corporate collections. Public collections include the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, The Georgia Museum, Athens, GA, The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.; William Jefferson Clinton Library, Little Rock, AR”, The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, The Detroit Institute of Art in Detroit, MI. 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; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, PA, The Arkansas Fine Museum in Little Rock, AR, The Columbus Museum of Artin Columbus GA, IBM White Plains NY, The Arts & Science Center in Pine Bluff AR and The Dayton Institute of Art in Dayton OH. The Private Collector include Michael Jordan, Monica Pearson and Terry McMillian.
Cole has also created more than 47 public art works including a 15-story mural for the 1996 Olympic Games.
His artwork has been featured in more than 141 publications, The Guardian Magazine in Paris, France. The Washington Post, Sculpture Magazine, The Union Tribune in San Diego, CA, and most recently Forbes Magazine.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As one who has a speech impediment, I have been blessed to receive over 50 teaching awards. As an abstract African American sometimes it can be a struggle.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
When I turned eighteen years old, my grandfather stressed the importance of voting by taking me to a tree where he was told that African Americans were lynched by their neckties on their way to vote. The experience left a profound impression in me.
Kevin Cole,

It was Jasper Johns who said, “When I use something, I like to do something else with it; do something else with it, do something else with it and do something else with it.” The statement by Mr. Johns really describes me and my artwork.

For over 40 years the necktie has reminded me of my grandfather sharing with me the importance of voting.
It’s funny how those things that are etched into our psyche while young people have a way of working themselves out as we age. Throughout my artistic journey, the tie has been more than just a recurring motif and icon. It has been foundational for the work that I have produced, and who I am as artist, husband, educator, father, and friend. Transformed from a symbol of powerlessness to a symbol of strength, it represents my beliefs in change, my sense of a more connected community, and even my faith in a higher power.
Additionally, my artistic journey has paralleled my personal sojourn to become wiser, find truth and search for pure expression.

While evolving from a more expressionistic place to one of abstraction, the tie has also evolved. Since 1992, I have deeply explored the interplay between color and music, particularly influenced by the musical art forms born out of African American culture: such as jazz, blues, rap, and gospel.
In this recent body of work, I am reminded of shapes like circles rods symbolizing steps or even my grandfather’s cane. He also talked about how history tends to repeat itself. The circle becomes that that symbol of a cycle that lends itself to human condition in the recent work I hear sounds of color the suggest from music composition by Marvin Gaye, Nina Simon, Miles Davis and John Coltrane that address the needs of the world. Each piece is carefully constructed in unusual ways that emphasis musical compositions that becomes sound boards of human experience with shapes, color mundane forms and pattern that move and grove to its own beat. The ripples in the texture represent the roads we travel.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I have found listening to your elders and influences as well as relaying on your faith to guide you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kevinecoleart.com
• Instagram: kevincole2378
• Facebook: Kevin Cole Artist/Educator

Image Credits
Photos by David Clifton and Tom Meyer