The Joy of Painting

In those six decades, Cole has won international awards for his art, secured two National Endowment for the Arts grants and taught at Auburn University, the Parsons School of Design, Fashion Institute of Technology and Kanazawa International Design Institute in Japan.

For a New York City teen who arrived at Bucknell in 1949 intent on becoming an engineer, artistic success might seem an unlikely outcome. But soon after arriving at Bucknell, Cole began to envision a different path.

“On the first day of class in the engineering building, I saw a man painting in a small studio,” he says. “His art looked interesting and very good to me.” Cole introduced himself to Bruce Mitchell, Bucknell’s artist-in-residence.

While Cole remained a civil engineering major, he found creative outlets: studying Mitchell’s paintings, joining the Bucknell Jazz Club, which Mitchell advised, and working backstage in Cap and Dagger theatre productions.

After graduation, he enlisted in the Navy, served in the Korean War, then worked as an engineer while following Mitchell’s advice to develop skills in calligraphy and painting. When Mitchell invited him to return to Bucknell to share a studio, Cole realized that art attracted him more than engineering. After pursuing an MFA at the University of Iowa, Cole returned to New York in the 1970s, where his career as an abstract expressionist quickly gained momentum.

Cole’s respect for the environment and interest in cultural, social and political issues have remained constant throughout his long career. He still relishes, he says, “the joy of painting and creating as my social, psychological and ethical response to the world.”