Kevin Cole

Mixed media on tarpaper

12" x 26"

Kevin Cole an award-winning artist/educator born in Pine Bluff Arkansas received his Bachlors 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 4500 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, 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.