About Stephanie Cole

Art is in my soul and lineage. My father was an artist, and he inspired me to look at life through the lens of a pen, or pencil, or paintbrush. Some of my earliest memories are the two of us exploring art together. While I have always been an artist, it took me years to find the path that I needed to follow.

At the time I was a young mother/wife/homemaker, I managed to finish my college education and matriculate with a BFA. I became proficient in painting and printmaking… and created two dimensional pieces. These were humble years spent raising two daughters, renovating our house and working odd jobs that required my skills (and provided necessary funds).

During our never-ending home renovations, I learned new skills such as mixing and pouring cement, laying brick, shingling roofs, wiring fixtures… whatever we could not afford to buy or pay someone else to do. My husband and I did it ourselves.

It was during this time that I decided to find my “art soul”, and to keep it apart from any money-making venture. This was non-negotiable for me. During all our home renovations, I began to make light fixtures, small pieces of furniture, curtains, quilts, and toys.

Painting, at this point, was “not enough” creatively for me.

All of this exploration and experimentation helped develop my body of work. My making “things” using whatever was at hand enabled me to speak artistically in ways paintings alone couldn’t.

Because of that, I now “paint with stuff.”